A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

There were a total of five armies that fled at the beginning, and their backgrounds were all inherited cities, that is, cities where the city lord was in charge of power and the royal court could only collect taxes but had no management rights.

After Garlan had declared to the world that these five city lords were all rebels, these city lords wanted to defend the city stubbornly, but even the people in their cities were unwilling to support their own city lords.

The Aaronlandis are not cowardly. If they are allowed to fight the invaders, they will definitely fight to the death with their city lord.However, if the target of the battle is replaced by the army sent by the king to conquer them...

The people in the city were terrified.

The king of Aaron Landis, that is the existence of the blood of the gods.

That is the son of the gods, who was blessed by the gods from birth to death.

If you are hostile to the king who is the son of the gods, you will definitely be rejected by the gods.After death, the soul will be plunged into hell and suffer the pain of being burned by fire all day long, never to be reborn.

Especially the rumors in the world, the current young king has been favored by the sun god Shamash since he was a child, and even sent his mount lion to the world to protect him.

Wherever the boy king went, the brilliance of Shamash followed him.

With the hearts of the people so scattered and turned against each other, even if Heymos hadn't stepped in, these rebels who wanted to defend the city would not be able to survive for long.

Now that Heymos went out to fight, he was naturally captured one by one and escorted to the royal city, and their city was naturally brought under the direct jurisdiction of the royal court.

Garlan's behavior immediately frightened many people.

When a new king comes to the throne, there will always be people who will test the new king's temperament openly and secretly.

If the king is weaker, they will increase the intensity of the temptation little by little to overwhelm the other party.

If the king is tough enough, they will be much more honest.

For this young king who was praised as a gentle and kind-hearted boy when he was a prince, many people thought that he had a good temperament, so they tentatively stretched out their claws to try to do something for themselves Take advantage of it.

The reason why those city lords refused to accept the king's order to go to the king's city to meet them was because they had a fluke mentality that they could hold together and let Garlan take a step back, regardless of their running away.

Even in the royal city, some powerful ministers either accepted their benefits, or out of consideration for maintaining the stability of the country, they persuaded Garlan to appease them and pardon their crimes generously.

However, the young king declared his majesty to the people of the world with practical actions.

The army went out brazenly.

King Garlan mercilessly knocked down those once high-ranking city lords to the ground with thunderbolts, and made them prisoners. Their families were ruined and they could never stand up again.

This is what happens to rebels.

This is the fate of violating the king's order.

The Boy King declared this to everyone with practical actions.

This young king with a beautiful appearance that even the goddess Avdomir would fall in love with is not easy to mess with, and his tough posture is no less than that of the Lion King.

Everyone immediately realized this deeply.

Those who secretly prodded and stretched out their claws were also frightened and quickly withdrew their hands, and shrank obediently.

…………

"You hit three, Keyjos hit one, and one left."

Garlan, who sat cross-legged on the stone platform, thought about it,

"The rest is left to you."

"it is good."

Heymos agreed casually while continuing to eat.

That understated demeanor is no different from just agreeing to do someone a small favor.

And the fact is the same, those trash city lords who are greedy for life and afraid of death are no match for the Gaishu people, not to mention the Gastad people. For him, it is very easy to solve the battle of those guys.

Especially after using Garlan's method, breaking the city was even easier.

He swallowed a mouthful of milk and said, "The number of slaves brought back this time is probably nearly [-]."

When he went to conquer, Garlan told him directly that he wanted to reduce the casualties of the people as much as possible, and at the same time gave him a decree.

The decree declares that as long as the slaves in the city assist the royal army to break the city, they will be pardoned as slaves according to the examples of Tozes, Judas and other cities.

This is also one of the reasons why Heymos can easily capture the city within a few days every time, but the consequence of this is that every time he returns from a battle, he will bring tens of thousands of freed slaves with him.

Although some dignitaries have little to say about the young king's will, according to the law, all the properties of the rebels will be confiscated by the king, and slaves are naturally included-Garlan releases the slaves belonging to his own property, and the lost It's his own interests, and no one else can control it.

If Garlan was still a prince, these dissatisfied people would probably complain to the king.But now that Garlan is the king, they can't sue the king, they can only acquiesce.

Heymos continued: "Including the ones brought back by Kehos last time, there are almost [-] to [-] slaves that you pardoned."

Swallowing the last bite of bread, he stopped eating and looked up at Garlan.

He asked, "What are you going to do?"

[-] to [-] slaves... No, they should be civilians now.

This amount is not small.

Although some of these people joined the army, they were a very small number of strong men, and there were only a few thousand in total.

The vast majority of the remaining people, because they were slaves since they were young, are used to a life of only obeying the orders of their masters, and have almost no ability to think for themselves.

Their identities have become civilians, but their thinking as slaves still stubbornly occupies their brains, making them only know how to live by relying on others.

Such a person is completely incapable of earning a living by himself.

Now, these people are barely living off the little property that Garlan bestowed upon them when they were pardoned.But Heymos knew in his heart that it would be impossible for them to sit and eat like this.

These people have no way to support themselves and their families. When the meager rewards are used up, in order not to let themselves starve to death, and under the instigation or persecution of caring people, they are likely to find a master to sell themselves in desperation. reduced to slavery.

If that happens, what Garlan did to free the slaves will become the laughing stock of everyone.

Garlan hummed.

"Don't worry," he said, "I've already thought about it."

It was about time, he thought, to start implementing his plan.

"This meal counts as payment."

Sitting cross-legged, Garlan rested his chin on one hand, squinting at Heymos.

"Tomorrow in the court, look fierce and help me scare those who oppose."

The short-mouthed black knight naturally had no objection and nodded obediently.

…………

........................

In the morning, the bright sun shines on the earth as usual.

Rainy days in Aaron Landis are extremely rare in summer, and most days are sunny.

In the half-open small court, at this moment, all the important figures in Aaron Landis are in it.

On the high platform, the emerald green malachite-carved throne reflects the sunlight and is verdant.

The blond boy king sat on the throne, and the azure cloak was spread out on the emerald throne.

The dignitaries and ministers participating in this discussion, after bowing to Garlan above, sat down on the seats carved from white jade on both sides of the court.

The high priest Shemuer stands on the left under the throne.

Heymos and Kejos stood in turn on the right under the throne.

Sitting on the right side of the white stone chair, the old Prime Minister You Si still had the old look, with his eyes downcast, as if he was not interested in anything.

Nothing comes out first, this is the life principle of Prime Minister You.

Seeing him like this, Zuo Sixiang who was sitting opposite him stood up.

The original Zuo Sixiang had died of illness, and this Zuo Sixiang newly appointed by Garlan was in his prime, with a strong body, clear eyesight, and an upright person.

The reason why he was appointed as the head of civil servants by Garlan was because he performed extremely well in the battle to defend the royal city.During the period of defending the city, he was not only fearless in the face of danger, but also handled all the matters entrusted to him in an orderly manner, which attracted the attention of Shemuer and Heymos and entrusted him with important tasks.

And he did not live up to the great trust placed in him, so he was rewarded after the war and was appointed chief secretary.

A few months ago, after the predecessor Zuo Sixiang died of illness, he succeeded Zuo Sixiang.

"Your Majesty, is it important to call us together?"

As the head of civil servants, Zuo Sixiang naturally stood up and asked on behalf of everyone.

Garlan nodded, then turned his head and glanced at Tar who was standing below.

Tal understood, and unfolded a large map with a swish.

Everyone took a closer look and saw that it was a map of Aaron Landis.

But unlike ordinary maps, on this map, the lines representing roads are painted in different colors.

Each line is composed of several lines of different colors.

Just when everyone was looking at the colorful map route in doubt, and didn't know what Garlan meant by letting them see this map, Garlan spoke.

"The main roads of Aaron Landis are drawn on the map, and the different colors represent the damage of these roads."

He said, "Red is the most serious, it can be said that it is almost completely damaged, followed by orange, which is still usable but in a worrying condition, and then down."

It can be seen from the map that the road condition of Aaron Landis is not good. There are a lot of orange lots and a lot of red lots. Although there are black lines that symbolize good maintenance, they are rare among the colorful Pitiful.

This is the task Garlan assigned to the bard Shulos a year ago.

Those bards and part-time rangers have traveled all year round and traveled around, and they are most familiar with the road conditions.

Garlan asked Shuros to entrust the group of rangers to go to various parts of the country to check the local road conditions, and then summarize the situation. It took a whole year to make this map.

Aaron Landis has three paths in total.

Dirt roads, gravel roads, and then slate standard roads.

A gravel road paved with gravel and gravel is not bad.

Most of Aaron Landis's roads are surface dirt roads, that is, the soil is compacted and used as roads.This kind of road has been accumulated for many years, and it is naturally full of potholes, making it difficult to walk.

The Slate Standard Road is a spacious road paved with rectangular stones built in strict accordance with road standards, and only exists around the royal city and some extremely wealthy large cities.

Now the ownership of Aaron Landis's roads belongs to the city under its jurisdiction, and it is the city's responsibility to build and maintain the roads.

However, maintaining roads requires a small fee.

The cities under the direct jurisdiction of the royal court are fine. The consuls of the city will follow the orders of the royal court to withdraw a sum of money from the tax revenue to maintain the roads, so the roads near these cities are still passable - they are barely maintained.

And the roads in the areas under the jurisdiction of the city lords are not so good.After all, if it weren't for the law that forcibly stipulates that each city must maintain the traffic arteries within its own jurisdiction, those city owners who think that the roads outside the city have nothing to do with them are not willing to pay this money at all.Even if it is necessary to maintain it according to the law, it is just coping.

After hearing Garlan's words, everyone looked at each other and vaguely guessed something in their hearts.

Someone asked tentatively.

"Your Majesty, what do you mean..."

"I want to build roads."

Garlan replied firmly.

He rose from his malachite throne, walked down the steps, and pointed to the map.

"With the royal city as the center and the old roads as the foundation, I plan to build roads connecting the major cities. Using the roads outside the royal city as a benchmark, I will spread the roads across the country."

He said, "All roads that have been built will be used and maintained by the royal court in the future, and will no longer be under the jurisdiction of various cities."

Everyone was stunned.

Historically, new kings who had just ascended the throne tried their best to strengthen their military and political influence, and they thought that Garlan would do the same.

But they never expected that the first decree proposed by Garlan was to build roads.

And everyone can see that this is not a decree proposed by King Garlan on a whim—just look at the map made up of colorful lines, and you can know that the Young King has already done it before he proposed this matter. Planning for a long time.

Everyone looked at each other, and someone immediately objected.

"Your Majesty, you may not know that, not to mention road repairs, the cost of road maintenance across the country alone is a huge amount, and it is difficult for the royal court to bear this cost."

Maintaining roads is a costly and thankless task. If the cities know about it, they will be very happy to get rid of the burden, but they are not willing to take this hot potato back.

"Yeah, our manpower is simply not enough to maintain such a large road."

"Your Majesty, you'd better think carefully before making a decision."

Everyone objected one after another.

"It's better to continue to let the cities be responsible for the roads in their jurisdiction, and if you're concerned about road damage, you can just order them to do more maintenance on the roads."

Even Zuo Sixiang, whom Garlan single-handedly promoted, frowned and objected.

"Your Majesty, the construction of a national slate standard road is an extremely large project. It will cost a lot of money and manpower. We have just ended the war, and many places are still rebuilding. I am afraid that it will be difficult for both financial and manpower. Support this project."

It's not that Zuo Sixiang doesn't know the benefits of building roads, but in his opinion, the young Wang's approach is too taken for granted, so ambitious, without considering the actual situation at all.

Even if it offends King Garlan, he still has the responsibility to oppose this impossible project.

"This is not something that can be done overnight. It requires a long-term recruitment of a large amount of labor to do it. Not to mention that the war is shortly after the end of the labor shortage. Such a long-term recruitment of labor may cause dissatisfaction among the people..."

"Who said I would conscript labor to build roads?"

Garlan interrupted him abruptly.

Zuo Sixiang was taken aback.

Throughout the ages, road construction has been directly conscripted from the local labor force, otherwise, who would volunteer to build roads?

"You are right. Road construction is a long-term project that will take a long time. Therefore, I plan to hire people to build roads."

"Hire?"

"Yes, and the property does not need to be borne by the royal court, I will bear it."

The huge wealth accumulated by the royal family from generation to generation was used by Garlan like a prodigal.

"However, in this way, the ownership of the roads I spent on building all belong to the royal family."

he continued.

"As for the labor, you don't need to worry about it. I've already asked Heymos and Kaihos to arrange it."

In the early days of the roadworks, the fifty or sixty thousand newly-pardoned slaves who did not know how to make a living would have sufficed.

He hired them to build roads and gave them opportunities to work. Although it would be more difficult, this way they would have enough time to adapt to their status as civilians and live a good life.

Looking at the crowd, he asked, "Okay, what questions do you have?"

When Garlan said this, the people whose objections were sent back one by one immediately looked at each other in blank dismay, and fell silent.

However, even so, some people still feel that the grand plan is a fantasy, it is impossible to succeed, and it is very likely that it will be a waste of manpower and material resources in the end.

Therefore, some people continued to speak out to persuade Garlan to give up this plan.

"King Garlan, I think this project is still too risky, do you want to seriously consider..."

"This project is time-consuming and labor-intensive. I'm afraid it will bring an extremely heavy burden to you and Aaron Landis..."

"You still..."

Garlan stood in front of the crowd, his golden eyes swept across the crowd.

That one glance made everyone shut up.

"It's my decision."

Garland said.

His tone of voice was very calm, and his expression was very indifferent.

But when the young king's gaze slowly swept across his courtiers, there was an invisible sense of oppression that made everyone's hearts shudder.

He is the king of Aaron Landis.

The king of Aaron Landis has made a decision.

At this moment, the entire court was silent.

After a moment of silence, everyone bowed and bowed their heads to the young king in front.

"Follow your will."

they said respectfully.

This is the first decree of King Garlan.

At this moment, the people in the courtroom don't know how much the matter they discussed today will leave a strong mark in the future history.

………………

Aaron Landis Blvd.

This is the general term for all the roads densely spread across the entire Aaron Landis continent in that ancient era.

With the King City of Aaron Landis as the center, it expands outward in a radial manner, connecting all the cities of Aaron Landis.

The existence of these roads allowed Aaron Landis to extend in all directions, and for more than 1000 years, Aaron Landis benefited greatly.

It has played an extremely important role in many matters, such as military affairs, commercial transactions, promotion of population circulation, and strengthening the central government's rule over local areas.

The construction of the road started from the reign of the wise king, and the construction was strongly advocated by King Garlan.

The project was planned to be completed within 50 years, during which time it continued to extend outwards with the expansion of Aaron Landis's territory. It took a total of more than 100 years to complete the construction.

After completion, the total length of roads exceeds 30 kilometers, covering the entire continent and connecting all cities.

This huge road project has made future generations marvel at it.

It became one of the symbols of the Aaron Landis Empire in its heyday and glory.

It is also one of the greatest achievements of the wise king Garlan.