When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#394 - The escaped city councillor

"Get out of the way, cobbler, your carriage is blocking the road!"

"The box fell over, my friend, can't you wait a moment?"

"Bang!"

"Ah! My brand new carriage!"

Beneath the newly built stone and mortar walls of Little Pool City, a congested stream of carts lined up like a long dragon behind the heavy fir wood gate, the square nails on the gate still bearing the marks of being burned by the Edict Legion half a year ago.

Little Pool City had been hit hard by the Edict Legion back then.

However, at that time, Juan Nuo's faction and the Church had not yet completely fallen out. Taking into account the reputation of the monastic orders, Prince Kongdai only carried out a simple plunder of the artisans and laborers outside the city.

After executing a batch of city councilors and extorting a sum of money, he retreated on his own.

Through the mortar and grain trade with Langsand County, Little Pool City actually recovered some of its former prosperity.

As hemp sandals and short boots stepped across the slick stone pavement, only the fire-scorched marks on the ground and walls, as well as the blood-stained hanging ropes on the flagpole, revealed the bloodshed that had once occurred.

However, this brief prosperity was once again met with an unexpected desolation.

The streets were full of soldiers enforcing martial law, and from time to time, knights and mercenaries who had taken money to help fight, as well as armed peasants, entered through the side gates.

In front of the main gate of the city, three rows of chevaux de frise formed a barrier.

Dozens of city councilors, wealthy merchants, and their hundreds of servants crowded in front of the barrier, angrily and helplessly pouring boxes of coins into wooden buckets meant for grain.

The wooden buckets, once used to hold golden grain, were now filled with gold and silver coins piled into a pyramid shape at the mouth of the buckets.

The soldiers standing at the city gate wore chainmail or leather armor. The day before, they might have been shop owners or small craftsmen in a workshop.

But now, they stared at these wealthy oligarchs with hatred in their eyes.

They all knew that these wealthy oligarchs colluded with the Church for their own benefit, selling out the interests of the entire Little Pool City to the Church.

They all knew that the heavy city redemption tax that had to be paid to the Church every year was all due to the weakness of these city councilors.

They all knew that when the noble coalition army arrived, these culprits were the first to run away, even trying to sell the city's defense deployment to the noble coalition army.

"I can't figure out what Lord Richelieu is thinking. How can he still let them leave the city in this situation?"

"If you ask me, they should all be killed first. Hmph, traitors!"

A wealthy merchant named Andruk, who was counting the exit tax, suddenly raised his head, his face flushed, as if he wanted to scold these two small figures.

But unfortunately, under the provocative gazes of the two soldiers, he still restrained the urge to curse.

After all, now was the crucial time to leave the city, and he didn't want to cause any trouble.

Like most well-informed wealthy merchants, Andruk had long known that Count Musak was leading the Church faction's noble coalition army from Kashia County, heading towards Little Pool City.

In a day or two at most, the coalition army would arrive, so they had to escape before tonight.

Count Musak was an old knight, a ruthless character who fought bloody battles with vampire pirates in the Zealand Islands, and was even known as an honorary knight without a title.

As for the noble coalition army led by the Count, it had a full three thousand elite soldiers, and even hundreds of knights.

Faced with such a lineup, half a year ago, Little Pool City might have had a chance to defend itself.

But after the Edict Legion broke the city, all industries were withering and the population was scattered. Now, the city only had a little over a thousand soldiers, and most of them were ordinary militiamen.

There should have been more, but those elite mercenaries who had previously supported Rapid Stream City either hid in the wilderness or were "injured" and could not exert their combat power.

It was obvious that they were afraid after learning that Count Musak was coming.

Little Pool City had been repeatedly ravaged by war, the city defenses were dilapidated, and there was a shortage of manpower. They could not see any hope.

As for the so-called ally, the Salvation Army, that was even more impossible.

It would take them seven or eight days just to get here, and even if they did, what could they do?

With such a long marching distance, and all of them being infantry, they would probably be directly defeated by Count Musak, who would be waiting for them, just like the ambush they had sent out before.

Holding on was impossible, it was impossible to hold on in this lifetime.

Even if they held Little Pool City, so what? Once Rapid Stream City was breached, those terrifying Edict Legionnaires would come again.

Whenever they recalled the terrible experience of half a year ago, these wealthy merchants couldn't help but tremble and clench their tails.

Escape, they had to escape, or it would be too late.

"You guys just stay here and keep talking, talk it out." Andruk's face was red, and he didn't say anything, but the servant beside him was anxious. "When Lord Musak arrives, you'll all die."

"Oh, you're quite tough." The militiaman, who came from a craftsman background, raised the hook spear in his hand. "Since you're so tough, stay and defend the city with us."

This scared the male servant quite a bit. He shrunk back in fear, but still stubbornly retorted, "I am a high-level male servant!"

"We want a high-level male servant." The militiaman put the hook spear on the servant's shoulder and glanced at Andruk. "What, are you not convinced?"

"He is my servant, he has been with me since he was twelve years old, he is an old employee..." Andruk stood straight in front of the militiaman, looking down at him coldly and arrogantly.

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"Oh, what do you mean?"

"The tax must be reduced. If you take him away, you must reduce my exit tax!" Andruk said righteously as if he had sheltered this servant.

In the servant's desperate and dull eyes, after deducting the corresponding tax amount, the former master happily handed his indenture to the militiaman.

"Okay, now, you are ours, High-Level Male Servant."

After taking out a full third of the money from the carriage, Andruk clutched his chest with heartache and signed his name on the agreement.

"I swear that after leaving the city, I will never return, and everything in Little Pool City will no longer be related to me!"

Making an oath in public, Andruk felt as if he had shed a layer of skin.

The wheels rolled, and the hooves clattered. He finally walked out of the opened city gate.

He raised his head and looked at the earth-gray city wall.

Under the gloomy white sky, the hot wind blew on the top of the wall, and a figure in a black and red half-shoulder priest's robe was particularly conspicuous.

"Just you wait!" Andruk looked at the figure and spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground.

It was this Bishop Richelieu from Langsand County who first took advantage of the information gap to drag them into Mass, and then sent troops to block the city gate.

It was also this bishop who spread rumors that they had sold the city's defense deployment to the noble coalition army and the Edict Legion, and also said that the wealthy merchants and city councilors were preparing to escape.

Rumors! They were complete and utter rumors!

They were just transferring their family property and escorting it themselves, there was no such thing as running away.

But these rumors seemed incredibly real, thanks to the few lucky councilors who had escaped in advance.

Under the instigation of that Priest Martin, almost all the citizens of the city stood against them.

Then this insidious Bishop Richelieu forcibly developed a three-day exit tax, with a tax rate as high as 30%.

Taking this opportunity, the people who stayed in the city forced them to pay a large amount of money, and then used the money to buy equipment and hire soldiers.

But so what? Could these one thousand or so militiamen defeat those noble coalition forces?

As soon as they thought that their money would be taken away by those noble coalition forces, the wealthy merchants, led by Andruk, felt a knife-like pain in their hearts.

But staying in the city was also death, so in order to escape as soon as possible, they had no choice but to resort to this strategy.

"You guys stay and wait for death. When the time comes, I will come back! I will still be the honorable city councilor of Little Pool City!"