EP.266
Griffino Castle Port.
The salty smell carried by the sea breeze, the seagulls flying indifferently and beautifully, the eye-chilling blue sea water, and numerous ships, large and small, anchored at the dock.
If you look at it from a distance, it is a very beautiful typical port scenery, but if you look closely, the atmosphere is indescribably desolate.
In normal times, it would have been a lively place filled with the sounds and movements of people, with the sound of unloading from merchant ships anchored in the port, fishermen selling freshly caught fish, and tough women preparing them.
This is because the fear of war and lack of food took away their lively daily lives.
Being at war means being at war, and I feel sorry for the people I get to see up close.
As they were walking towards where the fishermen were, Laura asked with a slightly displeased look.
“Captain, why on earth are you going to meet these low-status fishermen in person? If you just issue a convocation order, everyone will come on their own. Like the powerful people of the West Coast.”
4 stars. No matter where you go on the continent of Europa, if you have the title of Baron or higher, you will send letters to commoners telling them to come to you. It is extremely rare for them to visit you in person.
In particular, when he gets into a position that even most nobles with titles like me cannot dare to reach, if I just write an order and tell him to come find me, he obeys without a word.
What if the fisherman who was called in said, “What’s the point of coming empty-handed?” and evaluated the dried fish he brought as delicious, or praised a civic official or someone directly...?
The fisherman’s dried fish is said to be delicious by Captain Peter Yeager, and it will become a trend in a short period of time, resulting in huge sales, and the manager who received the praise in person will be subject to a rapid promotion review.
Laura, a noblewoman from birth who knows such influence well, wonders why on earth she bothers to visit a lowly fisherman.
“There was no reason to tell local officials in the western coastal region to follow my orders and die. But now I am going to order the fishermen I visit to die for the victory of the Reich Empire. Moreover, these people have been thoroughly plundered by us. Shouldn’t I show them the sincerity of visiting them in person to properly follow our orders?”
“That’s true, but there’s no need for you to do it yourself...”
“One of the key points of this operation is the work that the lowly fishermen over there must take care of. “If they don’t fight with desperate determination, our troops have no chance of victory.”
No matter how many times you completely surround the enemy with crane wing formations and fire siege ballistas, if you are unable to ignite the enemy ships, your troops will be defeated.
In order to avoid defeat and achieve victory, the fishermen’s dedication to risking their boats and lives is needed, so I have to go urgently.
No matter how much the fishermen hate me, there’s no way they wouldn’t know the meaning of the four stars on my shoulder, so persuasion would work better.
Laura said she understood what I said, but she seemed a little dissatisfied with my departure, so she didn’t say anything and just looked at the ground quietly as she walked.
**
Inside the Fishermen’s Guild Office.
Inside the office, dozens of fishermen were standing with a fearsome spirit, as if they had come out to fight for power with the opposing gang.
When I lived in Korea, if there were people who looked at me like that, it was so cruel that I had to pass by quietly without making eye contact.
Having cut down hundreds of enemy soldiers with my own hands on the battlefield, from what I have seen, the fishermen’s way of life is at a level as cute as that of a playful child.
Moreover, there are 20 escorts here, including Laura and Vincent, who were brought in to help them advance their careers.
If they take out their swords, they will be able to kill every single person in an instant.
The representative, standing in the center of the fishermen who were looking at us with scary eyes, fixed his gaze on me and asked in a threatening manner.
“Are you Captain Peter Yeager? “The commander of the damn Reich Empire.”
“That’s right, I am Count Peter Jaeger. He also serves as the leader of the Reich Empire Warsaw Expedition.”
“If the Reich Empire Army is the bad guys, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw Army is the bastards who are trying to kill us, their allies, and blame their own mistakes.”
...... May Dongju In other words, when faced with the threat of death, one struggles to survive by holding on to the oar like a bastard who is the enemy of one’s parents.
The fact that the Grand Duke of Warsaw had taken away all of their food and put them on the verge of starvation, and the fact that they and their wives and children could be branded as traitors to the Grand Duchy, made them feel the same sense of crisis as we do.
As a result, a consensus was formed that the Warsaw bastards were more scum than the Reich army that burned down the village, so they should fight against them.
“If you don’t want to live like a slave, cooperate with us. Under my orders, you will load oil and oil-soaked straw leaves onto fishing boats and participate in an operation to set fire to Warsaw ships. Then, as Commander-in-Chief on behalf of His Majesty the Great Emperor Michael von Reich, I swear to you that I will give you a chance to change your life.”
People in despair opened their eyes at the opportunity to change their lives.
“Once we defeat the Archduke of Warsaw, we will give you two options. “The opportunity to serve as a noncommissioned officer or higher in the Imperial Navy or a large reward in return for risking your life to help the Reich Imperial Army.”
The livelihood of urban fishermen was as bad as that of rural serfs, but they were by no means wealthy.
For those people, the opportunity to become a non-commissioned officer would be so coveted that their eyes would pop out.
Because just by becoming a sergeant in the Imperial Army, you can earn about 8 times the annual income of a serf family, and if you are promoted to sergeant, you can earn close to 15 times.
When you are on the verge of falling to the bottom of your life, or even hell, the rope of reversal has come down to you, and you will be excited to catch it.
And it is also for the sake of the Imperial Army that these guys are accepted as non-commissioned officers in the Imperial Army or, if they are exceptionally capable, as high-ranking officers.
To put it bluntly, we don’t know the location of Warsaw’s ocean currents and reefs, so it’s difficult to run the navy, but if these guys join, all those problems will be solved.
Furthermore, the fishermen of this era are also excellent future marines. If you train them for about half a year and give them to you, it will be enough to cover the cost of food.
The CEO, who had just come in and told me to fuck off in a brusque voice, looked at me and asked if my proposal was a dream or reality.
“Is that true? Are you really giving us a chance to change our lives?”
Instead of answering, I made a signal with my hand to the escorts.
The soldiers under my command put down a box containing over a thousand gold coins on the desk with a bang, opened it, and showed me the inside.
The fishermen were distracted by the brilliant light of the gold coins, which were difficult to see even once in a lifetime.
“I thought you wouldn’t trust me, so I brought some down payment. Gather all the fishermen in this city. “I will give each person 1 gold as an advance payment.”
And on this day, I visited several more ports, including Gryfino Castle, and persuaded and proposed to the fishermen there in the same way.
As a result... we were able to gather applicants for 100 fishing boats and 1,200 fishermen.
I have exercised the limits of my authority for the victory of the empire, but if I lose like this, no matter how much I lose, my head may be blown off.
He ordered more thorough preparations.
Now I feel like I’ve done everything humanly possible, so I just pray that heaven will help me.
A word from the author (author review)
Thank you, reader.
zakuti’s comments and recommendations stimulate the writer’s desire to write.
Yesterday, thanks to the many comments I received from readers, I gained strength and the volume of this episode has increased significantly.
Additionally, while writing an apology for the duplicate upload that occurred today, I uploaded a new illustration of Laura. Please check.
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