Lord: Stripped of My Inheritance from the Start - Chapter 82 - 81: Subjugation and Absorption
Chapter 82: Chapter 81: Subjugation and Absorption
With the death of Willie Knight, leader of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe, the rest could be handled by the Guards and militia led by Tom and David.
The value of a force composed of ordinary people became apparent at this moment. They couldn’t match a Knight in combat, but their strength was in their numbers, allowing them to suppress a larger number of commoners.
Driven out by the soldiers’ loud shouts, men and women, old and young, stumbled out of the thatched huts. They gathered, trembling, on the dirt road. Some of the more timid women and children had already started to cry.
In the eyes of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe, they were now lambs to the slaughter. Their fate would be either mass execution or being tortured for amusement…
In short, what awaited them was likely endless torture and pain.
Ronin took this opportunity to walk around the tribe’s settlement.
Most of the dwellings here were rather dilapidated. Even the house of their leader, Willie Knight, was just slightly larger than the rest. He lacked the power and financial resources to build a castle like a true nobleman.
The stockade was not large, and all the houses were clustered together in this palm-sized area. For Willie, this layout was convenient for management and also relatively secure.
After a quick look around, Ronin returned to the gathering point and had Macken bring Willie’s two captives before him.
“My lord, spare us! Spare us, my lord~”
The moment they were brought before Ronin, the two men knelt and began begging for mercy. Their attitude was much more befitting of the defeated; they knew how to adapt to circumstances far better than Willie had.
“I am merciful. I won’t take your lives so easily.”
Ronin’s face was all smiles, making him appear quite amiable. “Introduce yourselves.”
The two captive Knights cautiously began to introduce themselves. From their words, Ronin gained a deeper understanding of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe.
The ancestors of this tribe’s leader, Willie Knight, were from the Fox Clan, a baronial family under the Orland Empire.
In a series of conflicts, the Fox Clan and several other noble families stood against the Oduin Kingdom. As a result, they were besieged and hunted down by the Noble Alliance Army, which was led by the Wushan Clan.
Willie’s father had died many years ago, so Willie took leadership of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe. He had a decent talent for Cultivation, becoming an Intermediate Knight at the age of twenty-five, and held high prestige within the tribe.
Hearing this, Ronin couldn’t help but sigh. ’Huddled away in these mountains, their perspective is inevitably limited.’
’Becoming an Intermediate Knight only at twenty-five… that kind of talent can only be described as average, a far cry from ’decent talent’.’
As for the two captives before him, their aptitude was even more mediocre.
Whether it was the twenty-three-year-old Wodun or the twenty-one-year-old Dandy, both had unexpectedly activated their Fighting Qi Spirit Seed at nineteen, much like Juliet from Mountain Forest Town.
At best, they could only become Advanced Level Knights around their forties or fifties, and that was only if they trained diligently. With even the slightest bit of slacking, they probably wouldn’t even reach the rank of Intermediate Knight.
“I heard your Cyan Bamboo Tribe has cleared farmland to the north. Roughly how many mu?”
Ronin asked. “And how was this year’s harvest?”
Wodun and Dandy glanced at each other, a flicker of panic in their eyes. This was a question they couldn’t answer.
Dandy replied tentatively, “My apologies, my lord. We are not very clear on that matter. Perhaps you could ask Cyrus?”
’Cyrus?’
Ronin glanced at Macken, who immediately understood, walked into the crowd of captives, and brought Cyrus over.
“My lord, spare my life, my lord!”
As soon as he was brought over, Cyrus, just like Wodun and Dandy, fell to his knees to beg for mercy. Ronin noticed the man was trembling all over.
“There’s no need to be nervous, Cyrus.”
Ronin comforted him in a gentle voice. “I hear you’re quite knowledgeable about the Cyan Bamboo Tribe’s food situation. Tell me, how many mu of land have you cultivated, and what was this year’s harvest like?”
Fearing a beating if he answered too slowly, Cyrus replied almost without thinking, “My lord, we’ve cleared a total of just over 980 mu of farmland. The grain harvest is poor—only a little over seventy jin per mu. It’s not nearly enough to feed the more than 360 people in the tribe!”
“Every year, every winter, a few of our people starve to death. We barely survive by digging up wild vegetables and gathering wild fruit.”
’With so little land and such a low yield per mu, feeding over three hundred people is indeed a huge challenge. Most of them must be in a constant state of starvation.’
’And yet, despite all this, that Willie still coveted control over the Cyan Bamboo Tribe, wanting to be the king of this mountain. The allure of power and status is truly immense.’
“Wodun, Dandy, Cyrus, you are now my captives.”
Ronin said calmly, “There is only one path before you…”
“We are willing to submit! My lord, we submit!”
Before Ronin could even finish his sentence, the three men began kowtowing repeatedly like they were pounding garlic, shouting their surrender.
With Willie’s example fresh in their minds, they were terrified that saying one wrong word would get their necks sliced by Ronin’s terrifying Wind Blade.
Cyrus was especially subservient. “My lord, from this moment on, I am your slave! I will do whatever you command! Even if you order me to eat shit, I won’t even frown!”
Ronin was taken aback by his words for a moment.
“There’s an old saying: ’He who understands the times is a man of wisdom.’ Your performance is most satisfactory.”
He stood up, walked forward a few steps, and ascended a nearby slope.
On the road below him, all three hundred-plus captives were kneeling on the ground. The cries of children and the sobs of women blended into a continuous sound.
They were captives.
When nobles deal with captives, they select the useful ones to keep. If their territory doesn’t need more people, the entire group will be sold to the Slave Exchange.
Normally, they wouldn’t be slaughtered indiscriminately, as it would be bad for one’s reputation and could be used as a weakness for others to attack.
“Everyone, listen!”
Ronin’s voice was clear and cold, carrying far through the stockade as night fell. The crying people instinctively fell silent.
“Although you are now my captives, I could have you—the enemies of Wushan Territory—executed on the spot, or I could pack you up and sell you to a slave trader!”
The people below looked up, their eyes filled with despair.
But then Ronin’s tone shifted. “However, I am merciful and willing to give you a chance. From now on, you need only work for me honestly and obediently. I give you my word as a noble: not only will I not kill you or sell you, but I can also guarantee that your future lives will be better than your lives now!”
Ronin looked at Cyrus. “Go. Take your Cyan Bamboo Tribe’s cooks, bring out Willie Knight’s grain, and make sure everyone eats their fill tonight!”
Cyrus froze for a second, then he understood. He prostrated himself respectfully on the ground. “My lord, you are truly too merciful!”
He got to his feet and called out to some people in the crowd. “Bart! Old John! Quick, the honored Baron is willing to grant us a full meal! Come and lend a hand!”
At Cyrus’s call, two men emerged from the crowd. Shouting praises of the Baron’s mercy, they walked with Cyrus toward Willie Knight’s house.
Ronin gave David a meaningful look, signaling him to take some men and follow, just in case.
He turned his gaze back to the kneeling captives and declared loudly, “Willie was nothing more than an incompetent Knight! He couldn’t even guarantee your safety or keep you fed, but I can!”
“Most importantly, you will never again have to worry about being hunted by outside nobles, nor will you have to condemn your children and grandchildren to cowering in these perilous mountains.”
“You will be just like the slaves in my territory. As long as you work diligently for me for ten years, I will grant you farmland.”
He paused, then emphasized, “Land that will belong to you and you alone!”
Ronin wasn’t very good at brainwashing, but he knew what the people of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe wanted.
For these people, as long as Ronin could provide them with food, warmth, and a relatively safe environment, they didn’t really care whether they were serving Willie or Ronin. After all, they were serving someone either way.
However, if they could freely choose whom to serve, anyone with half a brain would choose Ronin.
Because unlike Willie, Ronin was a true noble. He was leagues better than a wanted fugitive like Willie!
The sense of unease slowly dissipated among the crowd. The women and children who had been holding back their tears also gradually calmed down.
What they had feared most was the executioner’s blade falling upon their necks. But not only had the blade not fallen, there would instead be hot, fragrant bread.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
