Chapter 191: Three Routes Through Ke'er Shan Jun

Although they were strangers who had just met, the fact that both parties possessed badges awarded by the Church of the God of Wealth improved the atmosphere between them.

Gulisiman immediately invited Jier to come inside and speak in the second-floor war room of the tower.

From the outside, this wooden tower did not look large, but upon entering, one could see that the interior was spacious and complex. Behind the stairs in the entrance hall, there were deep stairs leading downward; inside, Jier could hear the cursing of what seemed to be punished soldiers, so it appeared the barracks' Jianlao was located in the basement here. On the first floor, several heavy wooden doors also had metal plaques hanging on them, clearly labeled: Armory, Grain Warehouse, Warehouse, and Infirmary. At the entrance of each room stood soldiers, leaning crookedly as they kept watch.

The two walked up to the second floor, which was relatively spacious. Windows opened toward the center of the barracks, and in the middle of the airy second-floor hall, wooden chairs and tables were placed casually. At this moment, several squad leaders wearing short capes were sitting there chatting.

Seeing Jier and his companion, they stood up to salute, then sat back down on their own, cursing the scorching sun for making it impossible to conduct soldier training, while talking about recruiting men from the refugees passing through the checkpoint.

"Oh, you might not know, but because the patrol teams are responsible for a large area, the various squad leaders under my command all have the authority to recruit people. However, I only pay military wages according to the personnel in the military register; I won't be responsible for any extra people they find. And if any of them are responsible for a territory where a caravan breaks through the checkpoint or bandits cross the border, I will punish them severely!"

Captain Gulisiman briefly explained their way of working here, then invited Jier to the war conference room on the right to talk.

Upon entering, one could see a map of the east side of Cuikuang County pinned to the wall; this map also included the border situation of the western half of Ke'er Shan Jun. However, it was not very detailed. The truly detailed one was a large map spread out on the wooden table in the middle of the room, which was marked in detail with towns, villages, trade routes, bridges, forests, mountain peaks, and bandit dens.

There were even marked areas of Monster activity.

Jier saw that on the eastern border of Cuikuang County, the long, hundred-plus-kilometer contact border was divided into eight areas; it seemed Gulisiman had eight patrol teams under his command responsible for different areas.

Jier thought of the squad leaders in short capes in the hall just now; there were exactly four of them. It seemed the four squad leaders near the barracks were gathered here, and the other four further north and south probably did not come here often.

The two found chairs and sat down, and Jier immediately stated his purpose—to inform the person in charge of the barracks that he and his team would be camping overnight in the open space outside the barracks tonight.

"This..."

Gulisiman was not very willing, but he only hesitated verbally for a moment before being 'persuaded' by a small money bag Jier took out.

There was not much money in the bag, mostly Silver Coins and copper coins, but it looked bulging and had significant weight.

"This is certainly fine! Your team is going to support the war with the neighboring country; this is truly a most noble thing!" The other party immediately became impassioned: "This perfectly matches the virtue of unity in the Knight spirit. Even if it is a distant place we have never heard of, once faced with the crisis of being invaded by a neighboring country! All of us have united selflessly. I praise your character!"

If this person could put down the money bag in his hand while saying these words, it would probably have more impact?

Jier smiled, and seeing that the other party had agreed to the overnight stay, he began to chat about other things, especially since Jier had heard that the terrain of Ke'er Shan Jun was complex, so it was usually chaotic there, not to mention that the Nobles from various places had taken away the Knight Lords and a large number of soldiers to fight in the war, and those bandits would obviously swell like a balloon.

"It's not that scary. Ke'er Shan Jun is different from other places. How should I put it, you will know once you step into that area tomorrow; in short, it is very fierce and rough. Most places are basically in a state of semi-autonomy where they protect themselves. Only a few towns are under the control of Baron families and Knight Lords from neighboring counties; for the most part, the locals manage themselves."

Gulisiman then said: "So dealing with neighboring counties is very troublesome. You have to negotiate with people in every village and settlement one by one. I don't know how those Merchants convinced the villages and towns along the way to actually start trading."

"If you are afraid of trouble, I actually recommend you return to the previous town and then take a detour from the north to bypass Ke'er Shan Jun; this way, you might even be able to reach the front line faster. After all, unless you can endure dealing with every rough and greedy settlement and village along the way."

Jier disdainfully patted the Sword at his waist: "Even the greediest people become much easier to talk to when they have close contact with it."

"Hehe, perhaps." Seeing Jier's persistence, Gulisiman stopped trying to persuade him. Anyway, in his view, since Jier was so confident, he must have never truly dealt with the various large and small mountain bandits in Ke'er Shan Jun. Those people were greedy and cunning; they had no ability to accomplish things, but plenty of ability to ruin them.

Once Jier hit a few hard nails, he would naturally understand his advice.

The two chatted for a while longer. Jier wanted to copy the detailed map of the western side of Ke'er Shan Jun, but was refused by Captain Gulisiman, even though Jier took out another money bag this time.

"This is a war map; copying is not allowed. Every detailed mark on this was painstakingly investigated and scouted by the soldiers under my command. Moreover, this thing cannot be leaked, otherwise, the future border defense work will be difficult to handle," he said.

"But if you just want to take a look, that's no problem." As he spoke, Gulisiman pointed to the center of the map on the table, which was exactly Libie Guanka. Next to the checkpoint was a tower mark, which was clearly the barracks they were currently in.

The other party's finger traced a trade route extending eastward from Libie Pass, and he said: "This route is the one often taken by Merchants starting from the checkpoint. The terrain of Ke'er Mountain County is complex, and there are many routes to cross the entire county to the east. Basically, the routes opened up by capable people in the checkpoint are divided into three: upper, middle, and lower. They are the northern route controlled by Lady Pangduo, which is the longest and has the fewest villages and towns along the way, so naturally, it has the fewest supplies. But it is the safest one. Of course, the safety I'm talking about here is a relative result."

He laughed and cursed: "The most unsafe trade route in our Cuikuang County is much safer than the safest road in Ke'er Shan Jun!"

"Who is this Lady Pangduo? How many days does it take to cross Ke'er Mountain County on this route?" Jier asked.

Gulisiman introduced: "Lady Pangduo is a very influential person. She was originally the lover of a bandit leader in Ke'er Mountain County. Now that she has taken over that Bandit Group, it seems she has shifted from originally controlling the trade route to providing security services for Merchants traveling the route."

He cursed: "But it's actually the same old thing. It's just that the Bandit Group couldn't be wiped out by the neighboring county, so they changed the way they collect money from passing Caravans. I originally wanted to drive away the agents of this group in the checkpoint, but %%￥! Those Merchants wouldn't let me! They even jointly wrote a letter to the Baron to protect those people. It infuriated me!"

After cursing a few times, Captain Gulisiman continued: "This Lady Pangduo's people are in the largest tavern at the checkpoint. There are special private rooms inside the tavern; the one with the red Dagger is it. If you look for them and give them a sum of money, you can have your team cross the entire region from the north side of Ke'er Mountain County in just twelve days, which can save about five days compared to detouring from the Mengta Ridge further north."

Jier raised his eyebrows and said nothing, just gesturing for the other party to introduce more.

Captain Gulisiman reached out and pointed at the location of Libie Guanka on the map again, then moved eastward, gesturing along a route on the lower path: "This is the lower path, a route controlled by the Kale Jiazu, and also the route chosen by the most Caravans. It takes the shortest route across the entire Ke'er Shan Jun in a nearly straight line, taking only eight days. If the weather is good, ordinary Caravans can also pass through here quickly in seven days."

Jier crossed his arms: "Very good, so what is the problem with this route?"

Captain Gulisiman pointed to several places where this route crossed rivers: "This route is the fastest because it takes the nearest new bridges when crossing the several rivers that traverse the entire county. This avoids detouring to shallows or building bridges at the narrowest points. It's not adapting the route to the terrain, but building bridges wherever the route goes. So you understand, this Kale Jiazu built these bridges that are convenient for everyone to pass, and hired people to control the bridges and collect taxes. This route is good in every way, except the cost is the highest. It costs five Silver Coins per person for the whole route each time, goods are charged by the box, one Silver Coin per box, and horse-drawn carriages, ox carts, and donkey carts all start at one Gold Coin!"

"Good heavens, wouldn't this trade route bring unimaginable wealth to this family every year? Doesn't the Baron of the neighboring county care? Did the Knights under him not try to take back control of these bridges?" Jier asked immediately.

Captain Gulisiman shrugged, and the plate armor on his body made a crisp metallic friction sound: "No one dares to mess with this Kale Jiazu, because it is rumored that there is a Mage supporting this family. The Lords of the neighboring county wish the Kale Jiazu would control more routes, because this family has sufficient technical personnel and the ability to build large bridges. The more routes they control, the more bridges they build. Although some trade taxes will be lost, Ke'er Shan Jun has many bridges, so the circulation and management of various places can take shape. If I were a Lord of a neighboring county, I would naturally wish for the Kale Jiazu to contract the bridge construction for the entire county."

"That's true, compared to governance, these trade taxes are not very important." Jier nodded and said.

The fact that various places in Ke'er Shan Jun are semi-independent and not under the control of Lords is precisely because of the difficulty in communication and personnel movement caused by the complex terrain. Even if the local Knight Lords have the strength to defeat the local villages, the grassroots officials and Soldiers truly responsible for implementing control cannot get through, so this kind of actual control cannot be achieved or maintained.

Naturally, they can only let the local areas be self-governing or semi-autonomous.

Therefore, the Kale Jiazu building more bridges, even if they collect heavy taxes, is something the rulers of Ke'er Shan Jun are happy to see.

"Then what about the last one?"

"The last one is also the middle route that many people often take. It goes through the route in the north-central part of Ke'er Shan Jun, avoiding the large bridges built by the Kale Jiazu, and instead takes the traditional route. It also passes through the county seat of Ke'er Shan Jun, Duan Ya Cheng, controlled by the Baron Ke'er family. Uh, I think that place can't be called a city at all; it's at most a town. In fact, Ke'er Shan Jun doesn't have as many people as our Cuikuang County; it only has about two-tenths of our population, and there aren't many villages or towns. Basically, all the wide places in the entire county that can be lived in are already occupied."

"Hmph, the interesting thing is that although Ke'er Shan Jun has many mountains and rivers, there are few mines; they are all barren Rock Mountains. If it weren't for being on the trade route, which is the main route from the west of the Southern Province to the center, there would be no need to establish this ghost place at all, causing me to have to be responsible for this meaningless work all day long."

After complaining a few times about his dissatisfaction with his work, Captain Gulisiman complained to Jier that some of his officer friends had gone to fight with the Baron and Knight Lords, leaving him alone here to be responsible for these small matters.

Jier persuaded the other party that this job was very important, then continued to ask: "So this road is the route that Caravans used before the Kale Jiazu built those new bridges, right? Who is controlling this route now? Which route do you think I should choose?"

Jier asked three questions in a row, and Captain Gulisiman scratched his head and answered them one by one.

"To your first question, my answer is: Yes. When I was young, I heard that the Caravans from Suishi Cheng took that route to go to the Province Capital. I even took it once when I joined the army. At that time, Ke'er Shan Jun was far more chaotic than it is now, although the entire Ke'er Shan Jun isn't much better now, and it's even more chaotic because of the war and Refugees."

"To your second question, this road is now managed by a Merchant Guild under a Baron Ke'er family. Saying it's managed is actually just having connections with the villages and settlements along the way, as well as some of the passing Bandit Groups and local hooligans who set up checkpoints privately in front of bridges. I've heard that even if you pay, you will still be targeted by some smaller bandits. In fact, the other two routes are the same. Don't think that just because you paid, you will be safe along the way; you will still be robbed if you are supposed to be. This is also the reason for the existence of many Caravan guards at the checkpoint."

"To your third question, the route I recommend you take. This depends on the situation of your team, Knight Jier. If you are well-off and short on time, I recommend taking the route controlled by the Kale Jiazu; it usually takes at most eight days to cross the entire Ke'er Shan Jun."

"If time is not tight and you have a lot of goods to transport, I recommend you take the route controlled by Lady Pangduo. The northern part of Ke'er Mountain County has fewer river branches, so naturally, there are fewer bridges to cross. Most of the movement is along the mountain roads by the river. There are not many villages or settlements there, so you can be less bothered by the locals, but there are quite a few Bandit Groups there. When you meet bandits, you need to take out Lady Pangduo's token immediately. Hey, you are a Knight, why am I telling you this."

As he spoke, Captain Gulisiman laughed himself. He had forgotten that Jier was a Knight and thought he was an out-of-town Merchant who had come to the checkpoint to pay his respects.

"The middle route is the simplest. The money paid is neither too much nor too little. The route is not very safe, but it's not that dangerous either, and it saves two days of time compared to the northern route."

Jier asked the Captain about the charging methods for the three routes. The Kale Family's had already been mentioned, while Lady Pangduo's route was charged by the carriage, because Caravans with many carriages often took her side, so it was four Silver Coins per carriage and fifty copper coins per person, which could avoid most of the fees for private checkpoints along the way, as well as the entry fees set up by villages and towns.

Once Jier heard these things, he roughly understood why Captain Gulisiman didn't like the locals of Ke'er Shan Jun. Good heavens, you even have to pay the locals to enter villages and towns, there are private toll checkpoints on the road, not to mention that almost all the bridges are occupied by people of all kinds, and you have to pay to cross the bridge.

As for the middle route, looking for the Merchant Guild under Baron Ke'er, the cost is neither high nor low, six Silver Coins per carriage, or one Silver Coin per person, whichever is higher. It is not necessary to pay both.

"However, I must remind you that compared to the northern route of Lady Pangduo and the southern route of the Kale Family, although the middle route seems to have reasonable fees, I have recently heard from passing Caravans that when passing through Cliff City, they seem to be forcibly charged a war support fee by the local city guards, and if they don't pay, they will be thrown into the local Prison."

Captain Gulisiman was a traditional soldier, and he was so angry he laughed when he said this.

However, Jier did not care about this at all. Copper Mine County confiscated this so-called war support fee simply because Copper Mine County itself was wealthy; the thoughts of the Bostafa Family, the rulers of Copper Mine County, were likely not on this war, and it was estimated that all their energy was focused on the matter of the Dwarf Secret Vault.

After all, how much money could collecting taxes bring in? The value of that massive Dwarf Secret Vault beneath the castle was an astronomical figure just to think about.