Chapter Nineteen Harvest and Crisis

  The previous cover was good, but it didn't fit my violent aesthetic concept. Now I've changed to this one, which I made myself, and I don't think it's too bad either, ^_^

  I remember reading a comic about Dog Head Churchill before. If anyone knows it, please let me know, thanks!!!

  The big ship continued to move forward, and the fat man standing at the stern kept waiting until he could no longer see the figures on the dock, only then did he withdraw his smile. He rubbed his face, which had become sour from the fake smile, and turned back to the cabin.

  He knocked twice on one side of the cabin wall, and a hidden door opened. Two figures emerged from inside. They were tall and had slightly dark skin, with curly hair. They wore wide white robes, with short swords at their waists.

  The fat man stood respectfully with his hands hanging down at one side.

  The older man walked over to the table by the window and looked out for a few moments. The fat man hastily went over, pulled up a chair, and quietly placed it behind the man.

  He turned his head and nodded slightly to thank the fat man. Then he sat down, with one hand on the table supporting his chin, thoughtfully gazing at the scenery outside the window. The other hand lightly tapped on the table.

  Another young man in white robes stood behind him with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  The room fell silent for a moment, and all that could be heard was the "bang bang" sound of him knocking on the table.

  After a while, the man suddenly said: "Mahabur, what do you think of that knight?"

  The young man thought for a moment and then said with a sneer: "A despicable, lowly fellow. Nothing but a jumping clown."

  He turned his head and asked the fat man again: "What do you think?"

  The fat man's eyes grew painful at the memory of that bag of gems, his excitement causing the fatty flesh on his cheeks to quiver ceaselessly. He gritted his teeth and said: "A vampire. A greedy vampire. May Zorvath strike him down with lightning and shatter him into pieces."

  That person seemed to see through his heart and smiled warmly, saying: "You don't have to be so heartbroken. Your losses will be compensated by the Kingdom of Kaito."

  The young man next to him reached into his pocket and handed a small box to the fat man. The fat man took it, opened it, and inside was a huge diamond. With his experienced eyes, he immediately judged that the value of the diamond was twice as much as the gems he had given to Ye Feng.

  The fat man was overjoyed. He knelt on one knee, grasping the other's right hand and respectfully kissing the diamond ring on it, saying: "You are truly too generous. May the gods be with you, General Hannibal."

  Hannibal smiled faintly and gazed out the window at the scenery. He thought for a moment, then shook his head slightly and said in a low voice, "Is he really just a clown?"

  When dusk arrived, Ye Feng finally ended his work for the day.

  A long, drawn-out horn blast sounded, and the massive water gate emitted a piercing noise as it slowly fell.

  He stood up from the chair, stretched his waist and rubbed the sore back of his waist. He thought painfully: It turns out that sitting for a day is also a physical activity. He wanted to have someone make a rocking chair specifically for landlords, hold two iron gallbladders in his hand, stick two pieces of medicinal plaster on his temples, and pretend to be absolutely avant-garde. If there were two little girls to massage his shoulders and back, it would be perfect.

  The soldiers lifted the heavy treasure chest and placed it on a four-wheeled horse carriage that had been waiting on one side. Then, they escorted it back to the duke's mansion under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

  This time, Nia made a lot of money from the cheat, and in her heart, she felt that she had achieved a phased victory in the fight against the cheat. She was so happy that she ordered the servants to set up a celebratory banquet in the mansion early on.

  These poor soldiers had never seen such a formation, and normally sneaking into small taverns to drink a few cups of diluted wine was already a great pleasure for them. One by one, they were moved to tears.

  The Qiu Baos who had been fed too much Huang Tang all clapped their chests and said that as long as the young lady and young master gave the word, they would go up Knife Mountain and down Oil Pot without hesitation; if they frowned even slightly, they wouldn't be considered heroes.

  After dinner, after sending the soldiers away, Niya and others returned to the study. The large money box had already been carried in by the servants and placed in the center of the room.

  As soon as he entered the study, Ola hastily ran over. He took out the key and opened the money box, and under the light, a golden glow reflected from inside the box.

  Euler glanced at Diana walking in the back and demonstratively pushed the box.

  The gold coins in the box flowed out with a splash like water. Under the illumination of the lamp, it turned into a golden river.

  Several people held their breath at once.

  Ye Feng roughly estimated that this pile of gold coins was nearly a thousand strong. Of course, the fat kid from the Prime Minister's house had made a huge contribution to it.

  Nia reached out and grabbed a handful of gold coins, then relaxed her hand, letting the coins slide from between her slender white fingers. The clear and pleasant clinking sound they made as they fell was like the sound of hail hitting glass.

  She let out a long sigh and said: "Thank you, Ye Feng. With this money, I can finally alleviate my immediate worries."

  "Temporarily solved?" Ye Feng looked at this pile of money and asked incredulously.

  "Yes, temporarily relieved." Nia nodded and smiled wryly, continuing: "Mainly because our foundation was too weak in the past. My father also squandered too much. And regarding taxes, we didn't understand it very well either. You know that the money you collected today can cover what we collected for two months in the past. Moreover..."

  "And?" Ye Feng asked, he knew that there must be more trouble in this and the Duke's Mansion was not as smooth as it seemed on the surface. So he found a chair to sit down and planned to understand the specific situation thoroughly.

  Nia bit her lips and said, "Moreover, this pirate attack has caused us huge losses. They ruthlessly burned down many manors and houses, so rebuilding requires a large amount of start-up capital. There are also the resettlement fees for refugees, compensation for the martyred and injured guards, and bonuses for those who made contributions in the battle. Finally, to prevent the pirates from attacking again, we must train and equip a large number of soldiers. In addition, in order to maintain good relations with the navy, we have no choice but to pay them a certain amount of protection money every year."

  After listening to Nia's detailed explanation, Ye Feng deeply felt the crisis within. If they responded improperly, Xiniya would fall into collapse. In that case, the duke's territory would be taken back by the emperor, and he would return to the imperial capital in a sorry state. At that time, he would have no way out, and might even have to become a bandit, a profession with great prospects.

  A duke who has lost his territory will not be accepted by the noble social circle. If he is lucky, he can marry Nia to a lowly but wealthy merchant and maintain a life of temporary wealth. But in doing so, he would completely lose his right to inherit the throne (this playboy actually still had the right to inherit the throne, which made Ye Feng's eyes widen in shock.). Become a complete fallen noble, ridiculed by everyone. And this is exactly what those people in the Imperial City are most willing to see.

  Nia even suspected that this pirate invasion, even if it wasn't planned by those people, at least they played a role in pushing the waves from behind. The most obvious was that this time, the navy happened to conduct an exercise, allowing the invading pirates to pass through the patrol area and attack Xinya recklessly.

  Moreover, the small and medium-sized landlords outside the city and the businessmen in the city also had a falling out with them. The powerful and wealthy were everywhere, privately building their own armed forces, refusing to obey orders. When pressed hard, they even dared to resist the garrison troops head-on. In recent years, such large-scale gang fights have occurred several times, and in order to avoid escalating conflicts, Nia had no choice but to let it go.

  The result was that the prestige of the Duke's Mansion in the region decreased day by day, and even the government orders could hardly get out of the city gate.

  The duke had repeatedly entertained the local tyrants to get close to them. A small banquet every three days, a grand banquet every five days. When drinking and eating meat, these guys patted their chests loudly, calling each other brothers, wishing they could cut off the chicken's head and burn yellow paper at that moment. But after turning around, they turned their faces and didn't recognize the account, still doing their own thing.

  Otherwise, a city with tens of thousands of people would not have only three hundred defenders when the pirates attacked. Everyone had their own guards, but they just didn't send them out to help defend the city. They all stood by and watched, waiting for the downfall of the Ulyanov family.

  But when the pirates were driven away, everyone jumped out to beat the old tiger. This is also why Ye Feng was surprised to see a large group of strong men rushing out of the city gate like they came from underground, chasing after the pirates.

  Finally, when reporting to the military department, they each boasted about themselves, as if they had defeated not a group of pirates, but the great general Hannibal of Carthage. And she also had to promise them a large reward in order to prevent these guys from making trouble again.

  Nia had been bottling things up for a long time. As the de facto manager of Xiniya, it was hard for her to tell others everything.

  The Duke is intelligent, but only cares about writing poetry and dreams of reciting it at the egg-shaped theater in Norma City one day. General Lei is a typical military man who only understands the army. As her representative, Diana rushes around non-stop from dawn till dusk, with barely any time to rest. As for Oola, no one takes him seriously except for the chef in the Duke's mansion.

  All these things weighed heavily on Xīniǎ's shoulders, making her exhausted. Even with a heart full of grievances, she couldn't find anyone to talk to, and could only bear it silently alone.

  At this moment, she suddenly found that someone could finally listen to her confession and had the opportunity to pour out all the things in her heart. So she went on talking incessantly.

  After she finished speaking, she let out a long sigh and looked at the moonlight flowing in from the window like water, feeling much lighter.

  Ye Feng listened attentively to her words, sighed and said in his heart: "I didn't expect that I was indeed a laborious life, and even here I couldn't live in peace."

  Through Nia's account, he found that this place was indeed fraught with crises, it was like walking on a tightrope, and if you weren't careful, you would fall into the deep abyss below. A hundred victories are not enough to succeed, but one defeat means there is no foothold.

  Nina picked up the water cup to take a drink, only to find that she had already drunk all the water in it. She suddenly came back to her senses and looked up to see Ora lying asleep on the chair, while Diana was also struggling to keep her eyes open beside her.

  Her face flushed as she said: "After listening to me talk so much nonsense, you must be feeling annoyed."

  Yefeng handed over his water cup, smiling: "No, of course not. I just feel a bit troubled. You know, Oola is my student. I still want to retire in this place when I'm old."

  As they spoke, both of them looked at Euler simultaneously, only to see him leaning on the chair, sleeping soundly, occasionally smacking his lips and murmuring a few words.

  Nia burst out laughing and walked over to shake Oola awake. Oola woke up dazedly, rubbed her eyes with her hand, and asked: "Are you all done? Can I go back to sleep now?"

  Niya lovingly stroked his hair, gently kissed his forehead and said: "If you're tired, you can go to sleep first. Ye Feng is your mentor, not an outsider. You don't have to accompany him, it's not impolite."

  Ou La saw Ye Feng nodding and turned her head to say: "But it's too dark upstairs, I don't want to sleep alone."

  Nia thought for a moment and said: "Okay. You don't have to go upstairs. Just stay here and sleep on my bed."

  "No." Oola shook her head and said: "I'll sleep with Diana."

  "Diana is tired for a day." Nia looked at Diana with a apologetic expression and said: "Sleeping together isn't the same, right?"

  "Nonsense! Of course, they're not the same." Orla hadn't fully woken up yet, he glanced at Nia's chest and subconsciously said the truth: "Hers are much bigger than yours."