Job's fat face changed color slightly, then returned to normal, and said with a smile:
"My dear Lord, don't be fooled by these mud-legs. Yes, there is a poor little silver mine in your territory, but it was mortgaged to Lord March of the Red Leaf Territory as early as last year. According to the empire
According to the law, it is no longer your mining area. Do you need me to bring the mortgage deed to you for review?"
"Mortgage the silver mine?" Bai Xiaowen squinted his eyes, "Why don't I remember such an important thing?" He searched his memory and confirmed that there was no such item in the young lord's memory.
Job said with a smile: "Of course you have no impression. Because you have already left all the affairs in the territory to me. Your loyal butler, Old Job, has full authority to handle it. Of course, small things like mortgaging silver mines are also in my hands."
Within the scope of authority. There is your seal on the mortgage deed, and the entire process is in compliance with the law and impeccable."
Li Shuyi's eyes flashed with cold light, and her fingers quietly touched her waist.
Bai Xiaowen smiled slightly: "But Anton said that the silver ore mined every month was handed over to you in the name of delivering it to the lord?"
Job laughed: "This is even simpler. I got the right to operate the silver mine from Lord March of Hongye Territory! There is also a contract to prove that within the validity period of five years, all the output of the Baishi Silver Mine will be
Except for a part that is given to Lord March as a tax, the rest belongs to me..."
Bai Xiaowen nodded and said: "Mr. Job, you are really a loyal butler."
Qiao Bu couldn't help but be a little surprised when Bai Xiaowen's rage did not appear as he had expected.
However, Job still said cautiously: "Lord Dio, what do you want? Everything I do is in compliance with the laws of the empire, and you have no right to punish me... In addition, I would like to remind you that your
The Lord's Guard was disbanded two years ago because of the inability to pay salaries."
Having said this, Job seemed to have more confidence and gradually found the initiative. A smile appeared on his fat face again:
"By the way, you can also fire me or expel me from White Rock Town. However, before that, you need to pay off my six-month salary arrears, which is a total of sixty gold coins... I don't think you can afford it.
It’s the money, right?”
"Perhaps you should seriously consider my suggestion and sell the territory to Mr. March of Hongye collar. He is also very interested in your sister, Miss Charlotte. After buying the territory, if Miss Charlotte is willing to enter Hongye
To become a personal maid in the Lord's Mansion, Lord March will also pay another considerable amount of gold coins..."
Bai Xiaowen coughed and interrupted Qiao Bu:
"Jobu, what you said is very good. Under normal circumstances, there is really nothing I can do against you."
Qiao Bu was stunned and looked at Bai Xiaowen.
"However, you made a mistake. As a noble wizard, sometimes I don't need to rely on secular laws to get my things back."
"What's the meaning……"
Qiao Bu was about to ask a question, but he saw Bai Xiaowen's right hand open, and the light of the four-color talisman swirled in his palm. Finally, he selected the yellow talisman and shot it out!
The spirit world rules prompt message came:
"The strength ratio between ourselves and the enemy is 0.378:1, and the success rate of the mind-bewitching charm's confusion determination is 62.20%."
"It has been detected that you are the lord of White Rock Town, and the identity of the target will be suppressed, and the success rate of confusion determination will be increased!"
"The confusion determination of the mind-bewitching talisman was successful! Job Handel, the general manager of the Lord's Mansion in Baishi Town, Northern Xinjiang, has been confused."
Bai Xiaowen suppressed the excitement in his heart.
However, although the bewildering effect of the spell is strong, it can only confuse one target. After that, even after the 9-minute cooling time has passed, the spell switch cannot be cast again, and the target controlled by the bewilderment must be given up.
Once he gives up control, the target will be directly brain-dead. Of course, Bai Xiaowen can also fight for the backlash and use his mental power to protect the target's brain while giving up control, but this situation is relatively rare.
If you don't give up control, the confusion effect will remain until Bai Xiaowen leaves the spirit world.
This time, Bai Xiaowen realized the benefits of "identity" by casting the mind-confused spell, which has a bonus to the confusion effect. It seems that in the future, B-level or even A-level and S-level tickets will be more important to Bai Xiaowen than
Higher for others.
Everyone watched in amazement. After Bai Xiaowen fired a yellow light, Qiao Bu, who was still so arrogant at first, actually became extremely well-behaved. He knelt in front of Bai Xiaowen and wanted to kiss his shoes.
"Get up, Job. How much money did you save from running the Baishi Silver Mine, and where did you put it?" Bai Xiaowen asked.
Job stood up and said in a slightly robotic voice: "I will exchange all the silver ore harvested into imperial gold coins, 70% of which will be given to Lord March of the Red Leaf Territory, and the other 30% will be left to me. So far, I have saved a total of
I bought about 474 gold coins and hid them all in the cellar of my residence..."
"Lead the way." Bai Xiaowen ordered briefly, and then said to Anton and others: "Follow me."
Anton and others were a little trembling and did not dare to object at all. Unexpectedly, the lord was actually a wizard! In the world of Kane's plane, wizards are synonymous with mystery, and most people stay away from him.
Job's residence is next to the lord's house.
It is worth mentioning that Job, a fat man, also hired someone to set up an arrow blowing mechanism. If an unsuspecting person tried to open the cellar, he would be killed by nine poisonous arrows shot from three holes in the wall. However,
, under Job’s personal guidance, this institution became just a decoration.
In the cellar, Bai Xiaowen saw a box of gold coins. After his hand touched the gold coin box, a prompt came immediately.
"Resources for territory construction detected: gold coins * 470. The lord page is opened."
Bai Xiaowen was slightly startled and curiously opened the lord page.
In front of Bai Xiaowen, a translucent interface appeared, displaying a simplified map of the Baishi Town territory.
In the top column, a line of words is displayed:
Population: 7
Gold coins: 479
Grain:7
Building materials:0
Valuables: 0
"Is this information about the territory of Baishi Town?" Bai Xiaowen frowned and asked, "The population of the territory cannot be only seven, right?"
The spirit world rules prompt responded quickly: "The population displayed on your lord page refers to the number of people who are radiated by your influence and can obey your orders. Baishi has never interacted with you, and has never seen you.
The residents of the town have not been radiated by your influence and are not counted in the territorial population."
"You can improve your reputation and enhance your influence to increase the total number of people covered by your influence."
Bai Xiaowen understood. To put it bluntly, he still had to show his face.
With Bai Xiaowen's cleverness, he quickly drew inferences from one instance and arrived at the meaning of the next three options.
Gold coins, grain and building materials are all resources that Bai Xiaowen "has control over". Bai Xiaowen currently does not have control over the private property of other citizens in the territory, including gold coins, grain and houses, and is not included in the lord page.
It is easy to understand that there are zero building materials and valuables. As for the food for 7 people, Bai Xiaowen thought about it and probably meant a bag of flour and a few loaves of black bread in the kitchen of the lord's house...
As for gold coin resources, 4 gold coins, some silver coins, and copper pocket money were just collected from Job, plus the 5 gold coins originally in the lord's house, for a total of 479 gold coins.
At the bottom of the lord page, there is another column of text.
Troops: 0
Popular support: 2
Habitability: 3
Prosperity:5
The low values of these items were within Bai Xiaowen's expectation. After all, most of the people in the entire territory were in a state of not even having enough to eat. What kind of public support could they have? Bandits were rampant, which led to a lower livability.
Extremely poor.
Bai Xiaowen doesn't know how to judge this livability value. The situation in Baishi Town actually has 3 points. So what will it look like at 2 points and 1 point? Isn't it a desolate no-man's land?
Baishi Town is just a large bandit den, and there are no caravans coming and going. It is normal for the prosperity level to be low.
Bai Xiaowen put the gold coin box into the storage space. This move surprised Anton and others again. Considering Bai Xiaowen's status as a "wizard", they would not be unable to accept it after being surprised.
Suddenly, Anton boldly said: "Lord, since you are a wizard, why don't you go and annihilate the bandits in Baishi Town? Those damn bandits, especially the Black Wind Bandit Group, are killing people and plundering everywhere. Your son
People don't dare
Normal work... Without these bandits, with the minerals and fields in Baishi Town, food and clothing should be no problem even if they are not rich. Those people who have left their hometowns will gradually come back, and the taxes handed over to you will also increase.
"
A prompt message from the spirit world came:
"Turn on."
"Mission goal: clear out the bandit gangs in the territory of Baishi Town."
"Mission Difficulty: Unknown."
"Mission deadline: None."
"Task reward: unknown."
After this side mission started, Li Shuyi glanced at Bai Xiaowen and seemed a little excited.
Bai Xiaowen thought a lot about Antongao. What he just said was clear and coherent. The most rare thing is to persuade from the perspective of a lord. Ordinary miners don't have this ability.
However, Bai Xiaowen refused this task.
"Of course I understand these principles," Bai Xiaowen said lightly, "However, I didn't go to exterminate the bandits, so I have my own reasons... Anton, you reorganize a few miners and continue the silver mining work."
Hearing that Bai Xiaowen had no idea of killing the bandits, Anton and others looked a little disappointed.
"So... what about the Black Wind Bandit Group? They may rob the mining area again. This is too dangerous." Anton tried to persuade Bai Xiaowen to change his decision from another angle.
"How much was your salary before?" Bai Xiaowen asked.
"180 coppers a week." Anton didn't understand what he meant, but he answered honestly.
"As long as you are willing to go to the mining area, your weekly wages will be increased by 50%," Bai Xiaowen said. "The Black Wind Bandit Group will not rob the mining area again. This is my guarantee as the lord. If you are still unwilling to go, I will
Don’t force it. I believe that with this kind of labor price, many people in the territory will be willing to do it.”
When he heard about the 50% increase in wages, the old miner's eyes suddenly lit up and he rushed to say: "Dear Lord, those new workers are definitely not as efficient as us in digging."
"So you agree?" Bai Xiaowen looked at Anton.
Anton could only lower his head and agree: "Yes, Lord."
Bai Xiaowen didn't pay much, just a few dozen more coppers every week. It was very important to resume the production of the silver mine and maintain the income of gold coins.
After Anton and others left, Bai Xiaowen ordered Jobe to get the mortgage deed of the silver mine and the share deed with Redleaf Lord March, and finally sent Jobe to the mining area to supervise the mining work.
"You should take action against those robbers." Li Shuyi said.
"Did you see it?" Bai Xiaowen asked with a smile.
"Yes, the best way to solve the main task is to recruit the bandits, right?"
In fact, Li Shuyi has been thinking about it, "We can only stay here for 15 days. No matter how we develop the territory, it will not be effective in half a month. Taking shortcuts to make a fortune is the only way. Those bandit dens, especially the Black Wind bandits
There should be a lot of money in the regiment's den."
"Your idea is very good and coincides with mine." Bai Xiaowen praised, which made Li Shuyi a little embarrassed.
"Then why did you refuse the mission?" Li Shuyi asked.
"Shuyi, when we are wandering in the spiritual world, we don't necessarily have to accept the mission when we see it," Bai Xiaowen said, "Think about it, Anton himself is a poor man. As the initiator of the mission, what kind of reward can he give us?
"
Li Shuyi shook her head.
"If we accept this mission, these people will know that we will launch an offensive against the bandit group. Our advantage of surprise attack will be gone," Bai Xiaowen said, "Don't expect Anton and the others to keep the secret...
…Maybe Anton himself can, but what about the others?”
Bai Xiaowen took a breath, "Once the news is leaked, it will affect my plan. In addition, Anton releases this side task, and there is no decent reward at all. After completing the task, he will become more loyal to me at most. And even if
If you directly eliminate the bandit group without accepting the mission, you will still gain his loyalty and gratitude, and it can also play a role in keeping secrets."
Li Shuyi nodded, indicating that she understood.
Bai Xiaowen and the two returned to the lord's mansion and found a dilapidated map of Baishi Town in the hall.
It can be seen from the map that the iron mine occupied by the Black Wind Bandit Group is called "Cliff Mine" and is located in the southwest area of Baishi Town.
"Is the first target the Black Wind Bandit Group? Isn't it too exciting? We should pick a weaker bandit group first to see if the world of Kane's plane is difficult." Li Shuyi asked.
"There is a reason why I directly chose the Black Wind Bandit Group," Bai Xiaowen looked at the two contracts in his hand, "Don't you think this bandit group is weird?"