691 A secret agreement Part 2 (1/2)

”Yes, I am looking for a secret agreement,” Saleen replied honestly.

”You are really a sordid mage!” Stephanie was overjoyed. She very much admired Ojarvis, ”He is such a good emperor, a pity that he has a short life.” Ojarvis, who was fraught with illnesses, definitely did not have poorer foresight than Prince Safilos, he might even be better than his father. Emperor Chanake's individual power was too mighty that sometimes his foresight was not so forward-looking.

When a person was standing on the pinnacle of power, they would usually use violence to solve problems. Who could guarantee that this power was invincible?

Saleen threw his hands in the air and said, ”What can I do? I have to take care of a few hundred thousand people.”

”So, how many mercenaries can you deploy?” Seeing that Saleen had stated all his requests, Tiffany decided to probe about the deployable manpower.

Saleen did some calculations swiftly, then said, ”If His Majesty waits until the end of the year, I can deploy fifty-thousand troops. Including the ten-thousand which Lex had stationed at the borders, there will be a total of sixty-thousand soldiers. If I recruit some auxiliary troops, I can gather one-hundred-thousand people.”

”The price of these one-hundred-thousand troops will not be fixed.” Stephanie wanted to help Ojarvis save money, she was worried that Saleen would fill in the numbers carelessly. More and more people were defecting to Metatrin City, while a large batch of refugees had appeared at Loulan. Since northern Qin could not accommodate so many people, quite a number of people had entered Phoenix. Phoenix was not a very safe place either. It was only a matter of time before a bunch of these people came to Saleen. Within half a year, the population of Metatrin might more than double.

”How is that possible? I will assemble an elite swordsmen camp, while the remaining fifty-thousand people will be built according to the format of Qin's main army. His Majesty will have to pay the full amount for this elite swordsmen camp. For the remaining forty-thousand, His Majesty only have to take care of the logistics and pensions. As for the auxiliary troops, not much money will be needed, I will help His Majesty foot the bill.”

Ojarvis hit the bullseye once again, Saleen did not have the intention to take advantage of Qin. It was already the greatest victory if Saleen could enter Laiyin Duchy. If there was no secret agreement with Ojarvis, Saleen would have to withdraw from Laiyin Duchy eventually.

”It will be fine to wait until the year end, but I hope that you can send people to link up with Lex's army first. If Laiyin Duchy takes action in advance, you will have to resist them first.” There was no room for negotiation for these terms proposed by Tiffany, this was some crisis costs which Saleen had to bear.

”That goes without saying. Since His Majesty asked you to discuss these things with me, you must have brought along the secret agreement and deposit right?”

”Yes.” Speaking, Tiffany took out the contract Ojarvis had given her. This contract was not in the form of a scroll, it was a piece of double-layered magic paper made from magic beast skin. After signing, both parties would keep one copy for themselves.

This contract was written in great detail, both parties listed in the contract were Ojarvis De Grukos and Saleen Metatrin. Ojarvis had acknowledged Saleen's status in Laiyin Duchy. If Saleen could conquer Laiyin Duchy, the Qin Empire would definitely not interfere with the affairs over there. Once Sikeqinya attacked Laiyin Holy Rock City would also deploy troops to help Metatrin carry out defensive efforts. The prerequisite before all these was that Laiyin Duchy had to interfere with the battle in Loulan.

The secret agreement was written flawlessly, Saleen was pleased. The agreement did not mention the problem of Loulan, but Saleen implicitly knew that Loulan belonged to Prince Safilos. If Holy Rock City triumphed in this war, the fruits would be taken by Prince Safilos. The lands in Loulan would be distributed to Prince Safilos' associates.

”Lex and I will only receive a tiny portion, taking a pinch of rewards from the north and south only. Since Ojarvis had broached the topic of Laiyin with me, he would have surely settled the problem of Titan Duchy with Lex already. If Lex and I want to make further development, we have to start from these two duchies. As for the problem of manpower, the mainland is never short of free citizens.”

Who were free citizens? They were the civilians who roamed freely amongst the many noble lands. These civilians had no obligations towards the nobles, all their fortune was privately owned. This freedom was not always convenient.

There was a joke which went like this; 'a free citizen in Qin was worse off than a farmer, while a free citizen in Cloudflow was slightly happier than a farmer. A free citizen in Sikeqinya was as cheap as a farmer. While a free citizen in Tanggulasi had no freedom at all'.

A colossal number of free citizens had made up the population of merchants in various empires, craftsmen, workers, smiths, and such people. The moment war broke out these free citizens had the highest chance of being implicated. When a noble fled, they would bring along their farmers as long as time permitted. The free citizens best chance would be to join the army. When they surrendered they still had a chance of being absorbed by the enemy instead of getting killed.

”I have a request.” Saleen told Tiffany after signing the secret agreement.

”Ask then.”

”There is only one route from my city to Laiyin Duchy, which is the attacking route used by the Holy See's expeditionary army. I wish to build a city at the spot between Qin, Phoenix, Loulan, and Laiyin. Between this city and Metatrin I want to build a resupply town at an interval of every one-hundred miles. Besides this, I want the Deep Forest Town at Phoenix's borders to become the land of my nobles.”

”This…”

”The noble in that small town have already defected to me.”