Chapter 193: Substantial Assets

Shanlin Castle.

"Tangmu, are you saying this is true?" The Steward Chahaer raised his voice quite high, his face wearing an expression of disbelief.

At this moment inside the room, Aierlong, Ailin, Dawei, and the Administrator Wilson were all present; upon hearing the news Tangmu had brought back, they were both surprised and delighted.

"Head Steward, I would never make such a joke about a matter like this!"

Tangmu, who had returned to Shanlin Town alone, had long anticipated such a scene; he chuckled as he recounted Luoning's experiences at Wushan Castle.

The assassination at the Colosseum, the Knight tournament, forcing Leisen to accept judgment—it all sounded both thrilling and exciting. It left Dawei's eyes full of envy; if only he had been the one to accompany him this time.

"Now, Lord Luoning is no longer just the Baron of Shanlin Town, but the Viscount of the entire Wubei Territory!"

Tangmu drew a large circle with his hand, "With Sain Territory as the boundary, the entire north side of Wushan Territory is now Lord Luoning's domain!"

Hiss!

Everyone gasped, especially Wilson, who had lived here for many years; he hadn't even known how large the north side of Wushan Territory was, and now it had all become Luoning's domain?

"The Lord is truly..."

Wilson felt his head spinning; he couldn't find the words to express his admiration.

Not long ago, he had just begun to take over the administration of all the villages, including Huitu Village; he hadn't expected the Lord to gain another territory so quickly, and it was even Swamp Town, which had originally belonged to Baron Leisen.

The population of Swamp Town already exceeded the total of Shanlin Town and its subordinate villages; it was foreseeable that Wilson's workload would be extremely heavy in the future.

But this did not dampen Wilson's enthusiasm; on the contrary, he saw the possibility of climbing higher.

If the Lord had a bright future, then those who followed the Lord, as long as they served him wholeheartedly, would also achieve exceptionally brilliant lives in the future!

Changing one's social class through the position of Administrator was not an impossible thing.

In fact, it wasn't just Wilson who saw a broad road ahead; Chahaer felt the same.

Since he was a child, he had wanted to become a head steward in a castle; he had originally thought realizing this dream would be very difficult.

But ever since following Luoning, he had not only moved into the castle quickly, but also transitioned from a personal manservant to a steward, and now, after such a short time, he was actually about to transform into the steward of a Viscount's territory.

Everything was happening so dreamily that he almost couldn't believe it.

If anyone in the hall could be considered calm, it was Aierlong and Ailin.

The former had communicated with Ruidar and knew what plans the Lord had for this trip to Wushan Castle;

The latter didn't think too much about it and hadn't yet realized what Luoning's promotion from Baron to Viscount of Wubei Territory meant; she simply felt that Brother Luoning was amazing, her eyes sparkling with little stars.

Watching everyone immersed in surprise, Aierlong reminded them: "Tangmu, why don't you tell us what the Lord needs us to do?"

Wilson and Chahaer immediately recovered from their surprise; that was right, they had to keep up with the Lord's pace and could not slack off.

"The Lord wants Wilson and Chahaer to assist him in taking over Swamp Town; he likely needs to handle some matters."

Tangmu said: "Additionally, I need to notify the Commander to have that assassin and all of Leisen's attendant Knights escorted to Swamp Town; the Knights of Wushan Castle will take them to Wushan City to face judgment."

Aierlong nodded, "A few days ago, in order to suppress the Heiling Tribe, Ruidar had almost all the Knights of Shanlin Town mobilized. To prevent the Shadow from taking the opportunity to escape, he was transferred to Huitu Village for custody; now, this assassin should be locked up in the Heiling Tribe's prison along with Feilidun and the others."

The Shadow had reached the Bronze level after all, and possessed the ability to turn invisible; if they were even slightly lax, he might very well have escaped.

Ruidar knew the importance of this witness, so he had him transferred to be kept under his own nose.

Tangmu looked at the sky outside; there was still more than an hour until dark, "Then I will go to the Heiling Tribe now and bring this news to the Commander."

"Leave this matter to me."

Dawei stood up, "I have been traveling back and forth between the two places recently and am quite familiar with the mountain roads."

Aierlong expressed his agreement, "Tangmu, you should get a good night's rest, and tomorrow morning, take Wilson, Chahaer, and the others to Swamp Town."

"Good!"

Tangmu smiled and agreed; this way, he would also have time to see his mother, Liya, and share with her that he would no longer need to wear a mask in the future.

……

The change of ownership of the territory was nothing short of a catastrophe for those living in Zhaozebao; their good days had come to an end.

Likewise, the subjects living in Swamp Town were also living in constant fear, because they did not know how this new Lord would treat them.

Previously, under the rule of Baron Leisen, most people could scrape by a living by working day and night for the Lord, and quite a few were even able to save up some private property for themselves.

Now that the Lord had changed, how would the new Lord treat them? They were plunged into deep worry about their property, safety, and future.

In order to calm the uneasy emotions of the residents of Swamp Town as quickly as possible and allow them to return to their normal lives sooner, Luoning entrusted Masi and Baron Talun to gather all the subjects in Swamp Town the next day.

Unlike Shanlin Town, Swamp Town had a relatively high proportion of Free Citizens; they had many questions, such as what had happened to the old Lord, the identity of the new Lord, how the new Lord would treat them, and so on.

It was evident that the people of Swamp Town were more active than the residents of Shanlin Town.

Luoning answered these questions very kindly.

He focused on introducing the crimes committed by Leisen, letting the subjects realize that their former Lord was a criminal and was evil;

At the same time, to further eliminate the panic among the people, Luoning guaranteed that he would not infringe upon the private property of the residents of Swamp Town, and that he would restore the local security environment as soon as possible.

Given Luoning's special status as a member of the Wushan Family, and having had a friendly exchange, the residents of Swamp Town could be considered to have a basic understanding of this new Lord, and the unease and fear in their hearts were reduced quite a bit.

Next, Luoning would select a group of people from among them to help manage Swamp Town, such as re-recruiting servants for Zhaozebao, recruiting assistants for the Administrator, and so on.

Using local people to manage things could, to a certain extent, enhance stability.

As long as a stable environment could be maintained, once these subjects threw themselves into their work, whether the Lord had changed or not was actually not important to them.

"Lord Viscount, you are truly patient with the subjects." Masi, who was accompanying Luoning, couldn't help but exclaim.

In his view, the matter of pacifying the people could be left entirely to subordinates; as a Lord, there was absolutely no need to waste time on such things.

In any case, unless it was a last resort, the subjects would not leave this land.

"Initial communication is still necessary."

Luoning said with a smile, "This way, the subjects will feel respected, which can reduce unnecessary misunderstandings and suspicions, and allow them to quickly return to their normal life tracks."

Masi nodded thoughtfully.

It seemed that this new noble before him not only possessed extraordinary cultivation talent, but also had his own ideas on territory management.

No wonder his father held the other party in such high regard.

At noon, Tangmu arrived at Zhaozebao with Wilson and Chahaer, accompanied by five Administrative Assistants that Wilson had recently trained.

Since his people had arrived, Luoning began his operations.

The first thing to do was a census; every household and every person had to be registered.

Wilson had already performed such census tasks many times, so Luoning did not need to remind him of the details; he would handle everything clearly on his own.

Next was to take inventory of the assets within the castle, including food, weapons, money, and so on; Wushan Castle would not take these assets away, as they would all go into Luoning's pocket.

People say that murder and arson bring golden belts, but the wealth brought by occupying a castle is even more considerable.

To say nothing else, just taking Leisen's savings as an example, there were over 3,400 gold coins, and this was only cash, not including other supplies.

Although Luoning had spent over 1,000 gold coins in Wushan City to purchase materials for making Spell Scrolls, relying on the rewards and tips he received at Wushan Castle, the number of gold coins in his Space Ring had actually reached nearly 7,600!

Unknowingly, he did not even realize he had become so wealthy. (End of chapter)