Chapter 818: Precautions and Entering Yemei Town

Sasi County is in a remote location, situated on the periphery of the Southern Province, and thus its area is not small.

A portion of the due south direction is precisely the national border of the Saint Hors Kingdom; the west and north are both blocked by narrow, towering mountain forests; and the east, including the vast areas of the northeast and southeast, consists of even more sprawling, deep mountain ranges.

In this territory, the actual area under human rule is not even one-tenth of the area shown on the map.

The area under effective control and governance is merely the plain where Yemei Town is located, along with the various villages and settlements on that plain. As for some of the remote villages in the south of the county, including Changmai Village, they are actually mostly self-governing villages; the local lord, the Baron, has very low control over these villages, and the power he holds is limited to collecting a symbolic grain tax once a year during the autumn and winter seasons.

This spring, because the local Baron and the Knight led troops to participate in the war, a series of events occurred where bandits and monsters ran rampant; the self-governing villages in the south of the county did not receive news about evacuating the population, and at this moment, the people in the town also do not know what has become of these self-governing villages.

Whether they are still living their lives as usual, or have been oppressed by bandit groups that have drifted in, or even worse, have been wiped out as entire villages by monsters capable of parasitizing humans, no one can say for sure.

"Lead people to evacuate..."

The young Baron Heir, sitting in the Baron's main seat, muttered to himself.

He shook his head and said to the two elders in the family who could participate in the discussion: "Before the war on the border with the neighboring country ends, who knows how long such days will last? And an outside Knight."

He pondered for a moment and furrowed his brows.

To be honest, as a local lord with a Knight in the family, they understood too well what the existence of a Knight's martial power meant. Of course, after questioning the Cavalryman messenger who came to report, the three of them discussed it and generally felt that a young Knight would not be so bold and illegal as to seize the ruling power of Yemei Town.

Unless the other party could, after illegally seizing Yemei Town, successfully escape on some future day before the Baron of Sasi County returned with his troops, otherwise it would certainly be a death sentence.

One must know that the several Knights of their family were all skilled in combat.

Many against one, there was no possibility of losing.

Moreover, to maintain public order and stable governance within the town, before the young man's father took the troops away, he did leave the family a batch of Refining Qi warriors, including a unit of dozens of Refining Qi armored infantry, as well as a dozen or so well-trained cavalrymen.

These people did not look numerous, but they were all elite soldiers often led out by the territory's Knight to slaughter bandits; if one added the assistance in battle from the priests of the various churches in town, these fewer than fifty elite soldiers could crush an ordinary army of about ten times their size on the battlefield.

For this reason, this young man's father, the Baron of Sasi County, only took a large number of ordinary soldiers from the county and a batch of gathered militia to set off, accepting the request of the Provincial Noble Council of the Southern Province to go and support this expanded war for the great mineral vein.

Among the three discussing, the old man finally spoke: "Saying so much, we still have to meet this Knight. Only by meeting him can we confirm what this person's true purpose is."

He waved his hand and continued: "Of course, those elite soldiers sent out earlier must also be recalled before the meeting, consolidated, and prepared for the worst."

His words made the other two nod.

Thus, the young man sitting in the main seat, the local Baron Heir and the current actual manager of Yemei Town, immediately issued an order, letting the elite soldiers patrolling in the town, as well as the several cavalrymen waiting on the town walls, all return immediately.

The family's attendants immediately carried the issued order letters and ran quickly out of the Baron's Mansion.

At the same time, the Baron Heir's elder, the Baron's younger sister, the young man's aunt, a middle-aged lady, fiddled with her nails and the scented fan in her hand and suggested: "The churches in town must also be notified to be prepared."

The young man asked suspiciously: "Didn't we already let them send people a few days ago? There are already several priests from various churches inside the mansion. To be honest, I don't really like them; my Butler told me that these people have been preaching their gods and doctrines to the servants in the mansion these past few days."

The young man shook his head, an unpleasant expression appearing on his face.

His aunt shook the small fan in her hand and looked at her nephew with dissatisfaction: "Special times, special circumstances. Amidst the attacks and encirclement of monsters and bandits, and with an outside Knight of unknown status lurking, this little matter can only be endured for now. In any case, first invite the person in to bolster the strength in our hands; that way, no matter what the outside Knight coming here intends, he will have to behave himself after witnessing the strength we have."

The young man considered it, his left hand fingers tapping back and forth on the armrest of the main seat, and finally said: "I am still not at ease with those church people. As long as these people recruit one of the servants in the mansion into their believers, it is equivalent to reaching their hands into the family."

"Hey, you are worried about this? This is not difficult; for the people invited, just find a separate building in the mansion for them to station in, and try to limit their movement during normal times," the lady suggested.

The young man asked hurriedly: "Then what about the servants who come into contact with those priests? To be honest, let alone recruiting people into their religion, even if these people secretly use money to bribe the servants, I cannot accept it."

Once he said this, the Second Butler standing by his side pursed his lips, slightly dissatisfied, feeling that his young master looked down on the loyalty of them, the servants.

But this Butler said nothing; here and now, there was no place for him to speak.

The young man's aunt clapped her closed small fan against her palm and giggled: "That's simple. If you are really that uneasy, just specifically pick one or two servants you don't like to look at anyway, and let them be responsible for receiving those incoming priests during this period. After the matter passes, no matter what, just fire these servants."

Hearing this, the young man exclaimed that it was a good idea, while the Second Butler by his side looked at the Baron's sister with dissatisfaction and obscurity, feeling that this was a thoroughly crooked idea and an insult to them, the servants.

It seems that later, he would have to contact the servants in the house more and set a few traps for her.

"Then this matter must be handled quickly, Aunt, I'll leave it to you!"

Facing her nephew's request, this middle-aged woman in her thirties, who was still very well-maintained, nodded and accepted the task.

She set off quickly, striving to invite the priests back from the various churches in town before the outside Knight was invited to the mansion.

Jier waited outside the town for quite a while, which made him feel a bit strange; when he arrived at the edge of Duoen Town, the ruler in the town responded immediately.

But here, perhaps there were some factors; in short, the wait for a reply from the ruler in the town was quite long.

It was so long that someone in his team asked him if they were setting up camp here today?

Jier told everyone to wait a bit longer; with so many people in the team, where exactly to camp for the night still depended on the arrangements of the local manager. Of course, he also knew that the situation in Yemei Town was definitely not as good as in Duoen Town, and he was prepared for the possibility of being refused for passing through, camping, and resupplying.

There was an Agricultural God Church in town that was familiar with Priest Bataer; if communication with the local noble ruler was not smooth, he could still borrow this line.

Anyway, he was currently doing things for the Agricultural God, so what was wrong with using the local connections of the Agricultural God Church? Eating some of the church's grain and spending some of the church's coins was such a normal thing.

Anyway, he was not in a hurry.

After pacifying the long-waiting team, it was almost noon.

Although Priest Bataer had not yet entered the town, he had already met many Nongshen Believers in the temporary residences of the villagers outside the town, and through communication with these people, he understood the recent events in the town.

Although he had heard about the events from Lanu and Qiaoyi whom Jier had encountered, news could not always come from one side; listening to the words and views of various groups of people, even if they were all similar, could ensure the safety and reliability of the news.

Just as Jier was again loudly asking the guards on the town walls about the situation and when he could see the manager of Yemei Town, the gate in the northwest direction of the town, which had been closed last night and had not been opened since this morning, originally connected to the Shanglu.

Amidst creaking sounds, it was opened from the inside by the guards.

Some villagers who had been waiting outside the gate for a long time were clamoring to enter the town to buy some things, but as soon as they approached, they were pushed away by the guards guarding the wall gate with horizontally held long spears, and only after being scolded and lectured was the gate entrance maintained and a passage cleared, allowing more than ten officials from the town's Government Office to run out quickly from inside the town.

As soon as these people came out, they walked towards the direction of Jier's team. Accompanied by many guards from the town, they kept driving away the villagers watching from both sides to avoid these masters from the Government Office being delayed by the crowd.

Jier had good eyesight, and even while riding on his horse, he could slightly look over the trench and earth wall in front to see the people coming out of the northwest gate of the town.

At the same time, a fast-running messenger arrived at the earth wall before those Government Office people, first saying to Jier: "Sir Knight, due to the congestion of the streets in the town and the relay of messages, I have kept you waiting for a long time. My master, the Heir of the Baron of Sasi County, Young Master Sasi, invites you to meet at the Baron's Mansion."

Then, this messenger looked at the earth walls under his feet and the continuous earth pits several meters deep in front of the earth walls with difficulty, rubbing his hands and feeling at a loss: "However, these things that these damned farmers built for self-protection are really troublesome. If you can wait a moment, I will have these farmers dig an opening for you to come over."

Jier had been waiting for a long time, and upon hearing this, he jumped off his horse, patted Tianxuecao to let him return to the team, and then he shouted to his team: "I'm going to the town; everyone, prepare for defense outside the town and wait for my news."

Seeing Xueya Site on his carriage wave at him, Jier channeled the Life Energy in his legs, stood at the edge of the earth pit, did a half-squat to build up power, and with a bang, jumped forward, his whole body flying over a distance of seven or eight meters and landing directly beside the messenger with a loud boom.

His combat boots landed on the earth mound with a boom, and along with the vibration of the ground and the flying earth dust, the surrounding farmers scattered and retreated.

The messenger used his palm to cover his head and face to avoid eating a mouthful of the stirred-up mud.

After landing, Jier grabbed a corner of his black-red cloak and shook it hard; the wind stirred up blew away the earth dust, and only then did he pull his feet, which had sunk into the mud, out of the relatively soft earth mound.

The messenger coughed twice and looked at Jier in surprise, not knowing what to say.

Jier lifted the faceplate of his helmet and said to the messenger, "What are you standing there for? Let's go. I've already waited for half a morning; I don't want to wait any longer."

"Uh, yes, yes, yes, my lord. This way, please follow me; the lords from the Government Office are just ahead."

Jier set off walking, and as he walked, he called out to a place not far away where other farmers and their wives were gathered, "Lord Bata'er Jiaoshi, I am going to meet the local administrators, will you come along?"

"No, I will go to the Church later. I will leave this to you, Warrior Jier."

Bata'er Jiaoshi walked out from the crowd and said to Jier.

The messenger and the people from the Government Office who had hurried over saw Bata'er Jiaoshi, but they did not care much about it. Aside from taking a few extra looks at Bata'er Jiaoshi, whose attire and belongings were somewhat different from the local Agricultural God Church priests, they did not pay much attention to him.

None of them expected—or rather, they were not particularly familiar with church matters, so they did not know—that Bata'er Jiaoshi was actually a Village Priest of the Agricultural God Church in Sasi County. For many years, he had been a Village Priest in the remote autonomous village in the south of the county—Changmai Village—for several years now.

However, that place was too remote, and the only person from the town who went there every year and had met Bata'er Jiaoshi a few times was a marginalized grain tax officer under the jurisdiction of the Government Office.

Accompanied by the messenger, Jier soon met up with the group of people walking over. These Government Office officials, all at least forty years old, were all old hands. After a few pleasantries, they began asking Jier for information on the way to the town.

This included, but was not limited to, information about himself, information about the group outside the town, and even more precious news from the outside world after the bandits cut off the Shanglu in Sasi County.

Jier had nothing to hide, so he basically said everything he could, except for matters regarding Changmai Village—that is, he kept his fundamental purpose for coming to himself.

These Government Office officials were all taken aback when they heard that Jier was a young Knight from the Northwest Province of the Kingdom, and they were even more shocked when they learned that Jier had come with the expeditionary army sent to support the war in the Southern Province.

These people had not expected that the war in their own province would alarm a Noble from the other end of the Kingdom. Furthermore, as Jier revealed that the groups outside the town were refugees from various places gathering to seek shelter, they were also shocked by the chaotic situation in the outside world.

"Actually, it's not that bad. Towns and slightly larger villages everywhere have the ability to defend themselves, and the villagers in places that felt their village defense capabilities were insufficient have spontaneously fled to various places. Those who could rely on relatives did so, and those who went to big cities to seek opportunities naturally went there. Although everywhere looks chaotic, the actual loss of population and wealth may not be that great."

Jier spoke nonsense; he had not even mentioned the chaos in Borisfa City—the main city of the Viscount of the Bolisi-fa Ling to which Sasi County belonged—for fear that saying it would truly frighten these people.

Such more ominous news would obviously bring nothing but harm to the people of Yemei Town. Therefore, last night, he had discussed it with some people in the group, deciding not to mention this news and to have the refugees in the group spread it to the town as little as possible.

Although Bata'er Jiaoshi said he would not go with Jier to meet the administrators of Yemei Town, he quickly followed the people from the Government Office to guard against the town closing its gates after inviting Jier inside.

The welcoming party soon passed through the four-meter-high, two-carriage-wide northwest gate of the town and entered Yemei Town.

The guards maintaining order, seeing that the matter was resolved, followed closely behind the group and retreated inside the gate, closing it with a boom, leaving the villagers who wanted to enter the town outside.

It seems that before the local administrators make a judgment, this gate will not be opened.

It is likely they are afraid that people from the outside group might mix in with the villagers entering and exiting the town to coordinate with the outside Knight to gather and cause trouble in the town. Therefore, they closed all the town gates as a precaution.

To tell the truth, Jier did not care about this, because he himself did not harbor any malice in coming here. Therefore, while the town's cautious precautions were a waste of effort, they were not wrong.

Once inside the town, Jier discovered that there were truly many people in the town, and although the overall situation was normal, a sense of tension could be seen in every aspect.

Aside from the road left open in the middle of the street, other places were just like illegal parking in his previous life; the whole street was crowded with refugees from various places who had entered the town from outside.

These villagers carried their own belongings, and the old wooden furniture had also been carried on the backs of the young men of each family. At this moment, they had simply set up crude 'shacks' on the street that could block the rain.

And these villagers, grouped by village and family, sat together on the ground with their arms around their knees. Their listless eyes mostly looked at the few shops that were still open on the street.

These shops were mostly shops selling grain.

Jier felt this scene was somewhat familiar; it was truly too similar to the appearance inside the White Stone City Wall Guanka.

The difference was that the refugees who could flee to the White Stone City Wall Guanka had almost no luggage other than some personal items. The villagers taking refuge in Yemei Town, perhaps because they were located on a plain with roads and were close by, had brought almost everything from their homes into the town in one go when they fled.

Just as he saw on the earthen wall outside the town, in order to increase the height and defensive power of the earthen wall, the villagers outside the town had placed their own large furniture on the earthen wall as a crude defensive measure to resist the 'bandits'.

The officials from the Government Office complained about the chaos brought into the town by these outside villagers while accompanying Jier.

But they could not drive them away. After all, the villagers from the various villages who could enter the town basically had relatives or connections with the townspeople inside. Not to mention others, even these Government Office officials themselves had some distant relatives who had entered the town to take refuge.

No matter what, the inside of the town was much safer than the outside.

This was what the vast majority of people felt.

Even though a few days ago, 'bandits' had broken through the defense of the southern wall of the town and killed and set fires in the southern part of the town.

Since the northwest direction of the town was directly connected to the main Shanglu leading to other places, the town street entering from the northwest could go directly to the Baron's Mansion in the center of the town via the stone street.

Jier walked in the center of the group, surrounded by a dozen middle-aged or elderly officials from the Government Office, while around them, there were more guards maintaining order and clearing the street ahead and behind.

But in reality, whether it was the eyes of the local townspeople peeking out from the shops and houses on the street, or the villagers from various villages sitting together and looking over from both sides of the street, everyone—everyone—was curious, but their energy had already been worn away by everything these days.

Everyone just watched, watching Jier pass through the street and arrive at the Baron's Mansion in the center of the town.