Chapter 286: Chapter 285: Not Taking the Usual Path Chapter 286: Chapter 285: Not Taking the Usual Path Lanqi fell silent, having a vague idea of what these people were planning to do.
Sergey ran a freight company, and it wouldn’t be difficult to delay the shipnts a bit.
Baron Rota owned a printing press, which was the perfect channel to prematurely spread the news of a famine.
Buleike’s Jianling Company had control over many workers, who were craftsn when there was business and Buleike’s personal enforcers when there wasn’t. Once the ard guards ford by Paradise Sect fell apart, they would beco the most powerful force in the Inner City District.
Lanqi sensed the ominous presence of a brewing storm.
“We didn’t call you here for anything else, just to give you a simple heads-up—we hope everything will return to how it was before, with the Blinton family in charge of this city,” Sergey said with a smile, patting Lanqi on the shoulder, “You don’t have to do anything. Just wait quietly. We can have a drink when the Paradise Sect packs up and leaves.”
And before, he would never have dared to casually pat the shoulder of an earl.
“If everything truly returns to how it was before, I will certainly not forget what everyone has done,” Lanqi replied, feigning relief.
Back at the sanctuary of the cathedral, he imdiately said to his wife, “We’ll take care of anything valuable we have tomorrow, and try to leave the day after. We can go to Gaota City or anywhere else.”
“What happened? What did the Paradise Sect say to you?” Alice hurriedly put down the child and approached to ask.
Lanqi pulled back the curtain to peek outside before pulling his wife’s arm to the deepest part of the “room,” where he relayed everything he had learned in whispers.
“Airco actually secretly transported away the food?” Alice was aghast, understanding what this ant, “Why would the Kingdom Army do this!? Don’t they realize this will kill many people!”
“Shh!” Lanqi quickly gestured for her to be quiet, “That’s why we need to leave early, before the chaos arrives.”
It wasn’t a nationwide famine, so there would certainly be many people choosing to escape by train when the ti ca, and securing a seat would beco difficult. Worse yet, other cities definitely wouldn’t welco so many refugees with open arms; one or two trainloads could be managed, but if the news of a famine in Thistlefort were to spread, it’s possible that passenger trains would halt altogether—a worst-case scenario.
“I have no objections, my dear, but if you leave, the other nobles in the city certainly won’t allow you to co back…”
“Don’t worry, they definitely won’t fare any better, especially those who covertly oppose the Paradise Sect.”
“You think they can’t win?”
“A bunch of fools, how could they win?” Lanqi scoffed. They failed to see that this person nad Chao was definitely a tough character. To think that a large number of troops were recruited from the locals, why didn’t they consider whether these people alone could beat the regular Kingdom Army? He hadn’t seen the battles himself, but understood that it was only after Airco’s forces were defeated that the local residents joined the Paradise Sect—if the Paradise Sect hadn’t won at the outset, the people would never have chosen them.
That’s right, the Paradise Sect may indeed get kicked out, but before they do, they would certainly turn this place into a bloodbath. If Airco, the gangs couldn’t hold them off, then Sergey and Buleike’s private enforcers had no chance either.
“Ladies and gentlen, the Paradise Sect has two new announcents to make!”
The voice of the head nun rang out again in the cathedral.
“Hey, it’s nine o’clock, don’t they let people sleep?”
“I could really go for a drink…”
Murmurs of complaint from the crowd began to surround them.
“These two ssages are very important, so please listen carefully. If you have any questions, feel free to ask us!”
Lanqi, sowhat puzzled, lifted the curtain and stepped outside the partition, only to see a girl nad Jenny shouting through a copper gaphone, with a blackboard typically seen in classrooms propped up behind her.
“The first matter, our people have discovered that the grain storehouses have been emptied by the Kingdom border army, aning that the city’s food reserves are almost gone!”
Huh?
Lanqi froze on the spot.
Do they know what they’re saying!?
The other refugees were also stunned, clearly struggling to keep up with the other party’s train of thought.
“Uh… are we running out of food?”
Soone asked softly.
“No, the issue is much bigger than that! That granary is supposed to feed everyone in the city!”
“Ah? Doesn’t Thistlefort have any farmland?” This was obviously a visitor from out of town, “Then we need to buy food quickly…”
“Don’t worry about food, the supplies for three als a day at the shelter will not stop!” Jenny continued, “Our food procurent team has already set off, it’s just that transportation takes ti, so in the short term we need to find other ways to supplent our food supply! This leads to the second thing I want to say: Paradise Sect is now releasing their first official job recruitnt announcent, twenty silver-leaf copper coins per day, for the job details, please see the blackboard!”
“They want to clear the forest land?” Alice also stepped out this ti.
As the Earl’s wife, she naturally understood the contents of the blackboard—it was a topographical map, with the area circled on the south side of Thistlefort, right next to a lumber yard. She rembered that area had already been developed by factories, the woods were chopped down haphazardly, leaving only barren land behind.
“Paradise Sect is going to build a transit base in this area. The first-phase task is to compact and harden the ground, anyone capable of wielding a hoe or shovel can do this job. We do not restrict by gender, the age requirent is 16 years or older, and those who are strong may be considered from the age of 14, wages will be settled on the sa day and include food expenses!” Jenny went over the job description in detail, “Starting now, anyone who ets the criteria and is interested can go to the work desk outside the chapel to register!”
“Twenty copper coins a day? Really?”
“You’re not tricking us, are you?”
The crowd imdiately burst into an uproar!
This was an unbelievably high wage in Thistlefort—if you worked in the lumber yard or for Jianling Company, a normal laborer would earn only seventy or eighty copper coins a month, and that didn’t include room and board. To be able to earn a silver coin in just five days, that was an inco only white-collar workers could dream of!
“Why don’t you give it a try and see?” Jenny smiled, “But, I must warn you first, the shelter is the priority place to receive this news, by tomorrow, this recruitnt will open to all city residents. And the number of people we can take for the first squad is limited, if you miss it, you’ll have to wait for the second batch.”
“I’ll do it! The worst that happens is one wasted day of work! Dammit, if I can really earn twenty copper coins, it’d pain to eat for free here!”
Soone shouted this out loud.
And like a wave stirring up a thousand ripples, the refugees got excited as well.
What could be more regrettable than missing out on a chance to make big money?
“Let’s go sign up!”
“Wait for , I’m coming too!” One person took two, two took three, and in a flash, dozens of people were heading towards the chapel entrance. Then more people followed, more calls of excitent, until everyone inside the chapel was stirred, and the once quiet reception hall beca overcrowded.
Lanqi was dumbfounded.
He never would have thought that Paradise Sect would leak the news of the famine crisis themselves! What surprised him even more was that the refugees were not panicked, but rather distracted by the high-paying job opportunity that followed! Yes, a silver coin might be nothing to nobles, but to the people of Thistlefort, it was a big deal indeed! Famine was certainly terrifying, but it hadn’t truly arrived just yet, had it? And the wages… according to the Paradise Sect’s promise, could be received the very sa day.
Undoubtedly, this was short-sightedness.
But Paradise Sect had taken advantage of this short-sightedness and turned it into a weapon to dilute the fear!
This was not a strategy that a fledgling religious faction could co up with.
The problem was if the food issue could not be truly resolved, any strategy would backfire trendously on oneself, and the other party surely knew this. They knew it yet still proceeded this way, which ant they must have absolute confidence in themselves, believing that the problem could be resolved.
Lanqi couldn’t help but shiver.
When everything was shifting towards the impossible, divinities beca the only answer.
Was the Paradise Master really about to descend upon this border city?
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