Chapter 41: Crisis Management, A Discussion on Warhorse Refinement, and Washing Up Before Dinner

He handed the management of his team over to Xueya Site and Aoniweier. The Herbalist Zuojigela was also a person he valued highly; ever since he had made an agreement with the man last night to use the sap of parasitic plants to concoct new potions, this herbalist had officially become an indispensable part of his team.

Of course, for now, it was only Jier who personally valued him. Once this herbalist finished making the new potions and the various warriors had tested them, these warriors would naturally come to respect this middle-aged herbalist who could create such remarkable potions.

By then, Jier could even let some of the newly joined young people serve as apprentices to Zuojigela, assisting the man in making potions and processing various herbal raw materials.

Along the way, Jier was carefully observing the situation inside Yemei Town. Clearly, the situation here was not very good. Town Guards and thugs from businesses within the town, who had been forcibly conscripted to serve as manpower, were constantly patrolling the streets.

These Town Guards, dressed simply and at most wearing clothing marked with the Sasi Family crest, were all carrying long spears with iron spearheads as weapons. The business thugs who had been forcibly conscripted were better equipped, but in a more chaotic manner.

Some used iron-wrapped short clubs, short swords, or short knives; some even had small round shields strapped to their forearms as off-hand weapons, looking quite motley. Their attire was even more varied: some wore studded leather armor, some wore layers of leather clothing and were sweating from the heat, while others wore only simple linen clothing, and some, finding it too hot, wore nothing on their upper bodies at all.

Seeing Jier sizing up the temporarily conscripted thugs, Bell's expression was not very pleasant: "There's no help for it. I've transferred some of the Town Guards to the edge of the massive trench outside the town to keep watch. The guards originally in town were sufficient, but now I can only conscript these people to make up the numbers."

Beside him, one of his close attendants also rode over to smooth things over for his master: "Knight Jier, in fact, conscripting them is mainly to prevent them from taking the opportunity to cause trouble; this is an old tactic."

"Oh, I don't know much about this. Could you tell me about it?" Jier asked the attendant beside this equally young Heir.

Although this person was an attendant by status, he was actually a distant relative of Bell-Sasi. Such key positions were either filled by the descendants of family servants or by distant relatives who had grown up with Bell. Their interests were aligned, so they would only assist in Bell's actions and would not hold him back.

Of course, at critical moments, they also had to risk their lives to clear the path for Bell, similar to the relationship between Knight Hate and his Knight Adjutant Piluo.

"When a territory faces a chaotic and complex situation, in order for the Noble Lords to maintain control over the environment within a walled town, people like the hired guards employed by various shops, the gang members active on the streets, and the hired warriors active in taverns are all temporarily brought under control. By paying them and providing food, they are kept in one's own hands to prevent the possibility of these others, who control a certain amount of force within the city, from causing chaos when one needs to operate outside." This attendant had also grown up reading books alongside Bell, so he spoke quite eloquently about managing a territory and ruling during a crisis.

Jier nodded: "So that's how it is. That's why when I first passed through here with my people, you invited me over for the same reason."

Bell said with a smile: "Yes, in a situation where the landscape is complex, any force that can influence the situation must be clearly understood. It was fortunate that you were just passing through my territory at the time; if you hadn't left, I would have been very troubled."

"Haha." Both of them laughed, and Jier then asked: "Then what about this time?"

Bell and his attendant said in unison: "This time, we are looking to borrow your strength!"

Jier also laughed: "Then I shall lend you this strength of mine."

Bell also smiled: "Rest assured, in addition to the agreement regarding the Magic Potion given to you previously, for this series of battles, I will give you and your warriors sufficient rewards! As long as they can defeat those hateful parasitic monsters."

Jier also had a sufficient fondness for money; after all, he also had to pay his warriors, and he paid them every fifteen days. The pay differed between times of battle and times of peace, and the rewards after defeating enemies in battle were also different.

Jier had been handling all of this recently, and he missed the time when Priest Bata'er was on his team immensely; these trivial matters were usually handled by his priest partner in the past.

Moreover, as a team leader, participating directly in such complex and trivial matters would damage his prestige, making the warriors see more of his mercenary side rather than his side as a powerful warrior.

After all, as a martial group, what could restrain these warriors, besides money and wages, was more so his personal martial prowess.

Many of the warriors under Jier, besides being able to earn good money by fighting with him, followed him more because they might become stronger. After all, many of them were originally refugee youths who had suffered enough from their own lack of strength during their previous journey.

Not to mention anything else, if they had possessed their current skills and full sets of weapons and armor when they were fleeing, why would they have needed to flee? They could have just killed all those bandits who rose up during the chaos back in their hometowns.

If you looked at Jier from a year ago, he might not have been able to beat the current Aoni or Bawei; after all, that set of Metal Armor Plate was not just for show!

At that time, Jier was only wearing a full set of hard cowhide armor, which was a far cry from the defensive power of the armor the warriors wore now.

The two rode their horses and whispered about the mercenary wages for Jier and his warriors during the subsequent series of battles. Of course, this money was not paid by Bell alone, but rather Jier's team was hired in the name of the Sasi Family to help assist in the battle to drive away the parasitic monsters ravaging outside the town.

Jier would receive about ten Gold Coins a day, with wages calculated starting from tomorrow and paid out after the battles had concluded in their entirety. As for Jier's men, they would be paid two Silver Coins per person per day, based on the number of people deployed. After all, Jier had many wagons loaded with supplies, and it was impossible for everyone to be deployed, so wages were calculated based on the personnel sent out each time.

However, throughout the process, there were no extra rewards for the monsters killed by Jier and his warriors, only some individual monsters that had bounties posted in town.

"Those are the powerful monsters with flowers blooming on their heads. They are very formidable; even I have to go to great lengths to defeat one. They have tenacious vitality, and the wounds I cut or the limbs I sever recover very quickly. Therefore, for every such flowering monster, as long as one can bring back its head! The Sasi Family is willing to give a considerable reward to anyone who defeats them!" Bell said.

"Then what is the specific amount?" Jier felt a bit itchy inside; his Spirit-Water Head seemed to have unlocked a specialized killing trait against these parasitic plants, allowing it to rapidly absorb the essence and Life Energy from their bodies after wounding them. This not only killed the enemy but also seemed to restore the monster spirits that had been weak on the axe for a period of time. It was all good stuff!

"One... how much was it again?" Bell seemed not to have remembered this detail either, as there hadn't been many people capable of fighting such monsters before, so the reward for this type of monster hadn't been specifically publicized.

"Twenty Gold Coins! Master, one flowering head of that kind of monster can be exchanged for twenty Gold Coins here. Whoever it is, as long as they bring it in during this event, they can exchange it for money!" the attendant added.

Jier nodded. How to put this price—considering the harm the monsters could cause, it was still a bit low. After all, the combat effectiveness of the parasitic monsters when led by such a creature and when not led by one was vastly different.

Not only were they individually very strong and capable of easily crushing ordinary teams, but that type of monster would also emit a floral fragrance from its head, which could make the other parasitic monsters under its command become more violent and powerful.

Although the ordinary monsters that only attacked with their hands and feet could not cause much damage to Jier's armored warriors, they were still a very significant threat to the armed forces of Yemei Town.

Not to mention that Bell planned to expand the conscription to a combat force of nearly a thousand people later.

It was possible that a single flowering monster could chase those thousand people around in a panic.

Getting off track, they talked as they walked. Bell intentionally steered the conversation to keep Jier from focusing too much on the desolate scene in town, and they soon arrived at his family's gate as it turned dark.

The Sasi Family's building complex occupied nearly one-sixth of the area of Yemei Town, surrounded by towering stone walls on the outside, and inside there were two small barracks that could house dozens of people. During this time, there were guards patrolling outside the family walls at all times, led by the family's elite soldiers.

When they saw these people at the main gate, they immediately knelt on one knee to salute Bell, who was on horseback.

"I've already said that your tasks are heavy during this time, so don't salute like this! Continue your patrol!" Bell waved his hand, urging them to hurry back to their patrols. When they had all dismounted, Jier signaled to the Sasi family groom who had approached that his warhorse did not need any extra care, it just needed to be tied in place. The weapon rack on it should not be touched either; if others touched his warhorse, they would be attacked by the Tianxuecao.

"It's called Tianxuecao? It sounds quite fierce." Bell looked curiously at the Tianxuecao, which was draped in Horse Armor, and compared it with his own horses.

He was still an Apprentice Knight and had not completed the full training of a formal Knight under his father's guidance. Although his personal Life Energy and martial arts had been trained, he had not completed the training in subjects such as the relevant Knight warhorse and mounted combat.

Of course, as a Baron Heir, he had long known how to ride a horse and fight on horseback. However, knowing how to fight and being proficient in using Knight methods to fight on horseback were two different concepts.

For instance, he did not have a mighty grassland horse armed like Jier's; his horses were still borrowed from the elite soldiers his father had specifically left behind.

Those most elite soldiers were cavalrymen when mounted and the most elite warriors when dismounted.

They were much stronger than Jier's men, and their weapons and equipment were not inferior either.

"Has it been refined? I've heard that formal Knights all have a powerful warhorse that has undergone multiple refinements, which can better carry a heavily armored Knight to fight continuously for several hours."

Bell thought of his father's warhorse and the warhorses of the other Knight Lords in his family. Those warhorses were all terrifyingly fierce. When he was young, he was most afraid of these powerful non-human creatures; after all, those warhorses would not treat him with extra care just because he was the family's heir, unlike his knights.

"No, it hasn't been refined yet. I know about the refinement you mentioned. After this war ends, when I return to the Northwest Province, I will stop by the Province Capital and find professionals there to refine it." Jier patted the Tianxuecao's head, causing it to shake its head, trying to shake off Jier's patting.

"I see. It seems we are both the same, since we are both Apprentice Knights. However, I believe this battle will be the glorious beginning of your and my Knight careers."

Bell took Jier with him, and the two walked while talking about the refinement of warhorses.

Jier heard Bell say that the refinement of warhorses in the Southern Province not only required a large sum of money but also had to be confirmed layer by layer, from the level of Baron, up to Viscount, and even obtaining the signature confirmation of the Earl, before one could get them refined at the organization specifically for refining warhorses under the Provincial Noble Council of the Southern Province.

This process unified all the Knight forces that had reached a certain level of strength under the hands of the Noble Council. Only the Knight Lords of the nobles under the Noble Council possessed refined Knight warhorses, while other scattered warriors who had received Knight training and accumulated Life Energy were far weaker than the knights under these nobles in terms of mobility and long-distance travel because they lacked the assistance of powerful warhorse mounts.

Looking at it this way, the Northwest Province was managed quite loosely. Once Jier obtained a letter of recommendation from Knight Lanisha, he could get the opportunity for warhorse refinement in the Province Capital. The Noble Council of the Northwest Province was far less meticulous and strict in its management than the Southern Province.

Because this was, after all, a technical means that could significantly improve the combat effectiveness of knights. The difference in combat power and destructive power between a knight with the assistance of a warhorse and a knight without one was very large.

Because of the assistance of a powerful warhorse, ordinary armies could not easily trap or hinder the knights' attacks and retreats. After all, even a pure cavalry unit could not compare to a refined Knight warhorse in terms of speed and long-distance marching.

The cavalrymen's horses needed rest, food, and water, and they had to rest specifically after every hour of trotting. Moreover, after a long time, they had to provide the horses with specially high-nutrient food to prevent the warhorses from becoming too hungry and exhausted.

But like Knight Kela's warhorse, it could not only be covered in steel armor for heavy charges, but it could also gallop at high speeds for long periods and even perform long-distance jumps, leaping over rivers of narrower widths. And when paired with Knight Kela, their combination was even more terrifying; they were simply an invincible killing machine. Except for not being able to fly, ordinary armies could no longer stop Knight Kela and his warhorse.

Jier imagined that in the future he could be as formidable as his teacher, and while discussing the strengthening of warhorses with Bell, he walked toward the Sasi Family's dining hall.

However, as he walked, he noticed that even in such a water-scarce, arid, and hot situation, the ornamental plants inside the Sasi Family estate remained emerald green and lush; clearly, the water supply provided to them had not been reduced in the slightest.

Furthermore, the Sasi Family attendants following the two of them along the way were all clean, tidy, and looked healthy, not at all like people who were suffering from a lack of drinking water or unable to wash their bodies and clothes.

He secretly curled his lip, clearly having already guessed a few things.

Sure enough, he was not invited directly to the dining hall for dinner; instead, he was first taken to a building next to the dining hall, where he and Bell were quickly bathed in separate rooms.

It was a large, warm, copper bathtub, a massive washing vessel large enough for two or three people to bathe in at once.

When Jier took off his clothes, he even tapped the bathtub and discovered it was made of pure copper; this bathtub alone was worth a fortune.

While he bathed and cleaned himself simply, attendants standing by groomed Jier's armor and equipment right in front of him. His money pouch and the leather pouch he carried were placed into a small steel treasure chest, the key to which was handed to Jier on the spot, and he hung it on his hand while bathing.

Jier's two long swords and one Magic Dagger were all carefully placed on a chair to the side by the attendants, who faced Jier and wiped them with fine cloth dipped in oil. Their movements were professional, far better than how Jier usually cleaned and maintained his weapons.

While being washed and groomed under the service of other attendants, Jier asked the attendants maintaining the weapons and learned that they usually performed temporary maintenance on the weapons of the territorial Knights who came to visit the Sasi Family estate.

They had long since become skilled at this work.

"So that's how it is." Jier chuckled, thinking to himself about the difference between the level of welcome he received this time compared to when he came here before.

Clearly, when he came last time, they still regarded him as an outside source of great trouble and a dangerous factor. But now, when they needed to borrow his strength, the hospitality this time had such a significant difference.

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