Chapter 446: Bei Mo Si Ke Han might be an otherworldly Yuri

The first promoter is naturally the Third Prince.

There's no way around it; he's the one who serves as the boss for others, and now that he has an opportunity, he naturally wants to give Ke Li Si Ting and Feng En a hand.

But the second promoter is not the Duke of Chongshan; it's the Second Prince after hearing the Duke of Jusen's report.

From the fact that he would win over and cultivate artisan families like the Feng Xian clan to develop technology for himself, while the Third Prince only rushes in hot-headed to slaughter them all, it's clear he is far more steady than this "third brother" of mine.

Being steady often means being calm, and being calm often means having more time to weigh gains and losses and to find a more suitable entry point and solution for oneself.

Exactly, after careful consideration, he came up with this approach: "You're praising them? Fine, I'll praise them too!"

Moreover, he doesn't just use his connections to praise them; the Second Prince also does so personally.

At the victory banquet hosted by the Duke of Jusen, he specially called upon Ke Li Si Ting and Feng En, who had accepted the invitation out of courtesy and Deep Forest tradition, and lavishly praised them in front of everyone.

But everyone knows the Second and Third Princes have always been at odds, so this enthusiasm left them both bewildered, afraid that giving him an excuse would cause trouble, so they hardly dared to speak.

But the Second Prince isn't doing this to win them over, after all they already belong to the Third Prince, and no amount of courting could change that.

Moreover, the Second Prince isn't a fool; it's impossible for him to fall for such a ridiculous counter-espionage ploy and actively push them over.

So the Third Prince's doing this is actually to leave a name—of course, not fame, but a good reputation among the aristocracy.

Looking back, even Ke Li Si Ting, who back then was still inexperienced and hot-headed, knew that what a villain truly needs is a good person.

And among the Deep Forest nobles who have been honed into shrewd individuals by intense rivalry, how could they possibly not know this principle?

Thus, even in a life-or-death royal struggle, those willing to show mercy and spare others' lives, even if they ultimately fail, often end up with a better outcome—at least not losing their heads.

So now, because these two have rendered great service to the kingdom, the Second Prince sets aside past grudges, gives his all, and praises and promotes them regardless of their standings.

What is this called?

This is called putting the big picture first!

This is called generosity that places the kingdom's interests above one's own!

Put bluntly, the principle behind the Second Prince's move is actually similar to Ji Ming's.

Everyone's circle of friends needs a good person, whether he actually is one or not; the Second Prince is aiming for that niche.

Moreover, whether the Third Prince can see his intent or not, this is already an open scheme, a blatant plot that forces the Third Prince to make a decision.

Since even his opponents are supporting his people so much, as the lord he must, to win over the masses, increase his efforts and, no matter what, strive to surpass the Second Prince.

Third Prince: "Grandma's, you want to embarrass me, huh? Old man's following!"

Thus the Third Prince also began using his domestic connections to arrange things for Ke Li Si Ting and Feng En, trying every means to help them secure a better fief.

To match the Second Prince's public praise, he even flew the banner of "Rewarding Ke Li Si Ting's spirit of sacrifice," granting her his already depleted kingdom knights—now down to fewer than a thousand—and likewise earned a reputation for generosity.

Of course, the generosity is genuine; with these elite knights, Ke Li Si Ting's rights, exchanged for those in the Hui Guang Kingdom, are nearly enough to crush the southern border's little tyrant, Earl Flame Mountain, three times over.

In this way, both sides gradually upped the ante, ultimately achieving one earl and one viscount each, and both receiving fiefs, becoming powerful nobles.

But although the Third Prince, who turned out to be a big sucker, exerted considerable effort—losing troops and then suffering a reverse loss of blood domestically—he actually did gain some benefits.

Because while he was maneuvering everywhere, he also didn't forget to market his personal IP through storytelling, promoting how he bravely broke through and drew the ducal alliance to rescue the hero.

One must understand that the Deep Forest people love such "tear-jerking" legendary stories; thus the name "Third Prince Ageluo Lionheart" spread at lightning speed throughout Deep Forest and even reached Hui Guang.

So if we could quantify public support, his move at least raised it by one percentage point—equivalent to making a huge stride in this death race for power.

Thus the Second Prince gained a good reputation, the Third Prince a fine name, and the parties involved earned merit; strangely, this princes' contest unexpectedly achieved a three-way win.

However, if we step back from this incident and view the larger picture, for the parties involved it's far from perfect.

At the very least, since the Second Prince's fief yields magic crystals and the Third Prince's yields mithril, their factions are respectively called the Magic Crystal Faction and the Mithril Faction.

Because of this major event, Ke Li Si Ting and Feng En will bear the "Mithril" mark on their careers for life, and consequently they will inexplicably acquire a large group of enemies in the kingdom.

Although the overt targeting may not be fierce, considering the fine tradition from the ancestral king, they might even have their feet stepped on secretly at noble banquets as retaliation.

Feng En: "No, it's clearly only me who will be stepped on! Nobody would want to step on a horseman's hooves unless he has an innate iron‑block holy body that fears no sprain!"

But does this matter to the parties involved?

Not important; at least, with their benefits fully satisfied, they pretend on the surface that it doesn't matter.

But behind the scenes, under the banner of "Accompanying family on a trip," Viscount Feng En casually passed through the fief of Earl Ke Li Si Ting as if nothing were happening.

"Welcome, we've been waiting for you a long time."

Originally it didn't need to be large, but because there is a giant horse, the meeting room must be big, and three people are seated inside.

After all this, even a pig would have grown; thus Ke Li Si Ting is no longer the inexperienced aide she once was, lacking even a reliable advisor, but now she is the lone head of the tax department of the Business Union.

Now she has Frost and a deputy officer, making a leadership team of three, and daily matters can be discussed collectively.

Although still a weak makeshift outfit, its strength lies in unity and knowing each other's backgrounds, at least allowing open discussion.

So now, this small group striving to find firm footing amidst wind and rain is clearly about to gain a fourth member.

Meanwhile, while they held closed-door deliberations on their next plans, Bei Mo Si Ke Han also led his great army back to the grasslands.

Because the grasslands have many tribes, most of which follow the custom of moving with water and pasture, the khan's conscription method is mainly levy-based.

That is, each year every tribe must dispatch a corresponding number of warriors to participate in the great grassland expedition, returning either with honor or in a coffin.

It sounds unremarkable, for the evil villains in those stories seem to favor this very method of spreading the burden.

But the difference is that the royal court does not simply offload all the burden; while conscripting, they also continuously issue subsidies according to the number allocated to each tribe.

This subsidy includes money for purchasing training equipment, for supplemental nutrition, to make up for household income lost due to training and campaigning, and also for buying qualified equipment when formally deploying.

Even if, due to various mishaps, the conscripted individual cannot assemble a full set of gear at deployment, the court can temporarily front the cost, later recouping it through military merit and seized equipment, to prevent soldiers from being left weaponless.

All this led Ji Ming, while researching matters concerning the Bei Mo Si Grassland, to repeatedly ask the little boss, "Are you sure this big lion isn't a transmigrator?"

The little boss likewise repeatedly checked world law and world fate, constantly confirming whether Bei Mo Si Ke Han is truly a native of the Yangyue World.

The final conclusion was "yes," and not only that—he has so far had no contact with any substantive savior legacy.

Then there is only one possibility—Bei Mo Si Ke Han Xi Li De Ge, he truly is a heaven‑sent mighty man.

Thus, although it ultimately allowed the Third Prince to smoothly plunder several border tribes and yet failed to execute him on the spot, this in no way diminishes the khan's lofty prestige and ruling power.

And strictly speaking, from the perspective of gains and losses, the Beimosi Khanate truly cannot be considered a loser; indeed, one could even argue it has a few winning points.

First, thanks to a swift and powerful pursuit operation, they not only recouped the losses of all the tribes, but also seized a considerable amount of supplies from the Third Prince's army; otherwise this little brat wouldn't have collapsed after just seven days.

Moreover, although those few border tribes suffered losses, it was mainly because the wind and snow made their migration too slow; now the royal court has stepped forward, using part of the spoils to make amends, so what objections could they possibly have?

Second, in the subsequent standoff with the Third Prince, although the steppe people withdrew their forces voluntarily, they not only avoided greater battle losses but also successfully cut off the enemy's route to pursue those thousands of captives, smoothly escorting that massive labor force back to the steppe.

As the saying goes, 'lose the people but keep the land, both people and land preserved; lose the land but keep the people, both people and land lost.' The steppe people value most the gain or loss of population, so naturally they would not pressure the Khan on this matter.

But while the steppe people were pleased, the prisoners, whose count after registration exceeded seven thousand, were in despair.

Because, according to the border army's legend, every Deep Forest person who is captured will never have a good fate.

The strong are sent to the mine ranch as laborers until they drop dead from exhaustion; the weak are sent to the villages as slaves until they are sickened to death.

The unlucky ones are used as experimental subjects to study how to deal with Deep Forest people, locked in cages and tortured to death with various means,

But the most terrifying is that, because they are healthy and full of vigor, they are especially likely to be seized by a pig‑person who especially likes humans…

Of course, none of these horror stories have been witnessed firsthand by any Deep Forest person.

But what they all know is that Bei Mo Si Ke Han, that damned golden Lionfolk, possesses mind‑control!

Because this has happened more than once or twice; it is clear that the Deep Forest warriors who were once utterly resolute, after being captured by Bei Mo Si and appearing again, have already joined the enemy's camp.

Besides, if you join, you join—each one looks even more excited than the steppe people; aside from being less decisive with the knife, they are practically steppe people wearing a Deep Forest skin.

The deadliest part is that they don't wield the knife not because their blades are soft, but because they must keep shouting at the sidelines.

"You've all been deceived by the Deep Forest nobility; fighting here won't earn you any favors!"

"Only if the war ends soon can everyone live well; continuing to fight only profits the noble lords!"

This infuriated the Deep Forest warriors to no end, and after venting they were genuinely frightened.

——What on earth have the steppe people done to them, that they would have such strange ideas?

Fear, as similar incidents occurred again and again, became deeply ingrained, leaving them like startled birds……

The first time seeing their admired senior seized by a tentacled monster…… uh‑uh, in short, a fallen magical girl.

But now this fear has finally become concrete, for they have turned into the magical girl who was captured and taken to the Miaomiao House.

"Big brother, what should we do?"

"I don't know either; why not ask your second brother?"

"Don't be scared, little brother; turning off the lights will make no difference—keep it up!"

Thousands of prisoners were thus anxiously escorted by the steppe people to a valley dotted with many buildings, and then……

And then there was no afterwards.

Apart from the steppe guards outside the valley, they were like a herd of cattle and sheep, idly grazing here for seven days.

Um, this is a placement play……

Of course, during this period there were indeed warriors who tried to escape, but without exception they were recaptured by the steppe people.

"We're done! Big brother, even our regiment commander has been caught—he's a warrior of over level forty!"

"Ah, this time we might really lose someone…… Little second brother, what do you think?"

"Don't be afraid, little brother; with your good looks, plenty of pig‑girls will surely be fighting over you later—just remember to help us out then."

It's understandable that the prisoners would panic, for even in the Deep Forest, fugitives like these would be dragged out in batches and hanged as a warning.

But the fact is, nothing of the sort happened; instead they were merely confined to nearby solitary cells and given the lightest confinement punishment.

Such an outrageous act left the Deep Forest prisoners' nerves even more frayed; unable to escape or die, they could only stay put and try to calm themselves.

Finally, on the eighth day after being imprisoned in the POW camp, on a peaceful morning, the steppe people assembled them all on the drill ground.

"Wuuu… big brother, I don't want to die."

"It's fine; when the blade falls, big brother will take the hit for you—worst case, we brothers go together."

"Big brother, I doubt you can take it for me—those pig‑girls will surely prefer the younger……

"Ah, no, Old Second—I know you've got weird kinks, but could you stop harping on this? Look what you've scared the youngest into."

"Alright… hey, little brother, second brother just remembered our family has an ancestral kidney‑tonic recipe—make sure you remember it……

"Ah! (a shout of exasperation)"