When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#669 - Count Cazeneus and the Sugar Trade

The boundless forest sea rustled in the evening wind, as the Moen River, a tributary of the Ibe River, cut through the misty, dense green like a dark blue ribbon.

It was nearing evening, and despite being winter, the Southern County of Black Serpent Bay was known for its year-round spring-like climate; people still wore thin linen or animal hide vests.

Unlike the square sandstone houses of the Northern County, the settlements in the Southern County, being closer to the Green Dragon Forest Sea, experienced longer rainy and humid seasons, resulting in mostly stilt-house-style wooden dwellings.

Dozens of stilt houses, along with a long wall made of logs, formed the most basic structure of a Black Serpent Bay village.

However, the village, which should have been filled with rising smoke, was now engulfed in raging flames.

The damp grassland and rooftops emitted billowing smoke, which, under the setting sun, was tinged with a layer of gold.

At the very center of the village, near the stone temple, dozens of Black Serpent Bay warriors wielding rattan shields and obsidian-tipped spears roared as they thrust forward.

Surrounding the temple, hundreds of armored soldiers and double-pay swordsmen clad in chainmail and leather armor swung their longswords and flails wildly, while serpent-man auxiliaries constantly hurled javelins.

A sharp two-handed greatsword cleaved through the air, tearing open the animal hide clothing of the front-line Black Serpent Bay warriors, revealing the crimson flesh and bone wrapped in blood vessels beneath.

Every half minute, a scream could be heard as a Black Serpent Bay warrior was either pierced by a javelin or beheaded by a longsword, tumbling down the steps.

Despite the Black Serpent Bay warriors being no less valiant than the Imperial soldiers, the battle line was visibly retreating towards the top of the temple.

This wasn't due to the Black Serpent Bay warriors' martial skills being inferior to the Imperial soldiers, but rather a matter of weaponry and equipment.

Black Serpent Bay was a land poor in minerals, with little iron ore production, almost entirely dependent on imports.

Therefore, most Black Serpent Bay warriors wore rattan armor, with few even possessing leather armor, and mostly used blunt weapons and thin blades.

"How truly unsightly," Count Kazik, the commander, stood at the village entrance, watching the siege at the temple gate, shaking his head.

Before him on the muddy dirt road, dozens of bound prisoners glared at him, their dark pupils filled with resentment, regardless of age or gender.

Count Kazik was surrounded by only about a hundred guards, yet he was not afraid of the village's reinforcements, because there were none.

In the Black Serpent Bay, which was entirely self-governed from top to bottom, it was impossible to scrape together enough resources to form a mobile force.

The Greater Secret Parties, which possessed such mobile forces, were trapped in the city by the Lilac Corridor's noble coalition, leaving the villages and towns outside the city to be defeated one by one.

In the Black Serpent Bay's pacification war, this scene was the most common.

If it were within Imperial territory, Count Kazik wouldn't dare to attack a four or five-hundred-person manor with only two hundred men.

The biggest difference was that Imperial manors could call upon many people, while the autonomous villages of Black Serpent Bay could not summon many at all.

Even if they did, in Black Serpent Bay's loose state, they would only be defeated individually.

The only thing worth the attention of Count Kazik, the commander of this offensive operation, was the few wizards in the temple.

"Can we finish before dinner?" A chainmail-clad monk walked over, leading a horse, "The Dragonfly Port sent a box of Parrot Beak Lobsters from the frontier; Duke Podosha is hosting a banquet at the castle, and we'll miss it if we're late."

"I want to be early too, but the wizards in the temple haven't shown themselves yet, and my two hundred men dare not go up," Count Kazik said with regret, his hands on his hips, shaking his head. "Why do the weak fight?"

"After all, they cannot survive without fighting," The armed monk also piously drew a 屮-shaped cross on his forehead. "May their souls find peace."

"Who cares if they find peace? The captured slaves can be sold for a good price." Walking to the prisoners, Count Kazik used his riding boot to lift the chin of a female prisoner, "The tobacco trade is booming, and they need this kind of slave to plant and harvest tobacco... Hey! Who is it?"

Before Count Kazik could finish speaking, he felt a pain in his toe. He lowered his eyes and saw that the prisoner, whose face was originally rough but possessed a wild beauty, was now contorted, biting his riding boot.

Realizing what the prisoner had done, he didn't have time to call for guards. He directly picked up his cane and slammed it into the prisoner's cheek.

The previously full lips instantly exploded, and three blood-stained broken teeth flew out. The female prisoner let out a sharp scream and collapsed to the ground.

Two guards immediately stepped forward and dragged the female prisoner aside.

"Damn it, scarred." With a gloomy face, he wiped the blood splattered on his hand with a handkerchief, regretting tearing a piece of rotten flesh from the female prisoner's mouth. "Forget it, send her to the soldiers to play with."

Heavy breathing sounded simultaneously in the ranks of the guards watching the prisoners and in the ranks of the prisoners.

"Thank you, Lord Count!"

"You are the number one good man under Saint George!"

"We love you, Lord Count."

The guards cheered, and Count Kazik smiled and pressed his hand down.

As the border count of Black Serpent Bay, this was Count Kazik's second time participating in the pacification war. He thought his son would participate next time.

Because this kind of pacification war happened every few decades, normally each generation of counts only had one.

Next time, according to his estimation, would be ten years later, but the war was launched now entirely because of that bag of white sugar from Thousand River Valley.

The nobles were shortsighted, but not stupid.

Thousand River Valley had white sugar refining technology, ample food, a closer administrative division, and even the iron ore that Black Serpent Bay desperately needed.

Even a fool knew that Black Serpent Bay would choose to transport white sugar and spices to the north.

Although Thousand River Valley might perish in two or three years, the Thousand River Valley Trading Company would not.

If the brown sugar really flowed to Thousand River Valley, even if the so-called Holy Monarch State of Thousand River Valley was destroyed, the sugar would still pass through the hands of the Thousand River Valley Trading Company.

So, the nobles of the Lilac Corridor made a decision with extreme speed and unimaginable efficiency.

They learned of this matter in September and had gathered their troops and marched on Black Serpent Bay by January of the following year.

As for the goals, there were two: the first was to forcibly force the Black Serpent Bay people not to sell brown sugar to Thousand River Valley, and the second was to seize several important sweet branch plantations.

If they did not forcibly cut off the royal family's access to the sugar trade, then the Lilac Corridor would no longer be involved in the sugar trade in the future.

Count Kazik's lips curled into a contemptuous smile.

The Black Serpent Bay people had put too much effort and shed too much blood in the previous Thousand River Valley War, and their resistance was much weaker than before.

If the current offensive continued, it was expected that they could reach the walls of Celestial Maiden City before the rainy season arrived.

The last time they had reached the walls of Celestial Maiden City was more than a hundred years ago.

"It's poison smoke, it's poison smoke, retreat quickly!"

"Holy water, prepare the holy water."

Seeing the green smoke finally spreading in front of the temple, Count Kazik smiled and said to the armed monk beside him, "They've finally come out; now we'll have time to eat lobster."