Live Stream: I Am A Lord In Another World - Chapter 96

“It is said that the rebel army initially sprouted in the territory of a count. That count was very good at business. In order to obtain enough liquid capital, he exchanged most of his grains for money at the beginning of the year to use for business.”

“Originally, that count relied on having enough grain after the autumn harvest, but who would have thought a locust plague came, causing a reduction of grain production by half. In the shortage of grains, even with money, the count couldn’t buy grains and had to increase taxes. This taxation caused trouble.”

On the square of the city, a merchant was slowly explaining the situation of the rebel army within the kingdom to Richard.

“A count? A count, at least, should have a standing army of over a thousand. Wasn’t it suppressed?” Richard asked.

The merchant said, “I don’t know the specifics, but in any case, the count’s castle was quickly besieged by the insurgents, and then more and more people joined them. They successively attacked the castles of the nobles, plundering the grains inside. In such a situation, more and more people joined the rebel army.”

Richard said, “Has the kingdom dispatched troops to suppress it?”

The merchant replied, “They did, but initially, the royal family didn’t anticipate the scale of the rebel army. They sent a legion of over ten thousand troops to suppress it, but the rebel army ambushed them, and the legion suffered heavy losses. What’s worse, similar unrest and uprisings have occurred elsewhere. It’s said that a city has been breached. Now, the king is preparing to conscript troops from all the nobles to suppress the rebellion.”

Here, the merchant sighed and continued, “The power of this locust plague was unexpected by everyone. If this turmoil continues, ambitious people might also join in, and then chaos will ensue.”

Richard asked the merchant many more questions.

The merchants knew quite a bit, of course, but most of what he knew was hearsay, and he hadn’t seen it himself.

He didn’t know some of the finer details.

After discussing the rebel army, the merchant hesitated for a moment but decided to speak to Richard, saying:

“Oh, Lord, I saw many corpses in the wilderness…”

“That’s the bandits,” Richard said lightly.

“Bandits? So, does the lord’s castle also attract bandits?” the merchant asked.

Richard said, “Yes, but they’ve already been defeated by me. Look, those are the captives.”

He pointed in a direction.

The merchant looked over and saw a large number of bandit captives with their hands and feet in iron chains being escorted out of the military camp and sent to the outskirts of the city’s hydroelectric station.

There were quite a few captives, and they lined up in several rows, forming a long queue.

“So many!” The merchant was startled!

He didn’t know that a sizable battle had taken place in Richard’s territory not long ago!

Richard said lightly, “Hmm, there were a total of over a dozen groups of bandits, about seven to eight thousand people.”

The merchant was startled once again.

Seven to eight thousand bandits were not a small number.

The combat power of bandits was not weak.

However, so many bandits had been defeated by Richard and captured as well!

This made the merchant have a newfound respect for this Lord!

Originally, Richard having so much grain had already made the merchants unable to figure out his origin.

After all, Richard was just a baron.

And he had purchased his title.

But in the short time since Richard bought his title, the entire territory had been transformed.

Not only had a large castle been built, but a powerful army had been established. Now, he could defeat seven to eight thousand bandits with fewer numbers!

In the eyes of these merchants, Richard, who was like this, probably surpassed some discounts!

After chatting with the merchant, Richard also sold him a lot of potatoes and luxury items like porcelain and glass cups. However, this time the merchant didn’t buy too many luxury items.

But the price of potatoes had also increased by quite a bit for Richard, from ten copper coins per pound to fifteen copper coins per pound.

It had increased by half.

“Lord, I won’t hide it from you. Now, with the turmoil in the country, the nobles’ demand for these luxury goods has decreased, and their demand for grain has increased. Also, if the lord has enough ironware, or even weapons, they can be sold to us. We’ll buy as much as we can. The time of the rebel army’s turmoil is probably not short, and the demand for iron will become particularly high,” the merchant said to Richard.

Grain could indeed be sold.

As for ironware… Richard wasn’t planning to sell it for now.

Even if he wanted to sell, he wouldn’t sell refined steel, but it was possible to sell some inferior ironware.

Although the merchant didn’t buy much “luxury items”, with the price increase of potatoes and more carriages brought by the merchant, Richard still earned dozens of gold coins.

After the merchant left, other merchants came one after another, bringing more news.

And as these news spread, the war that occurred in Richard’s territory also spread from their mouths.

It caused quite a stir in some cities.

It also made Richard’s name somewhat known in this otherworld.

“Master, great turmoil is coming!” After receiving all the merchants, Mia stood behind Richard and said.

At this moment, Richard stood on the high ground of the castle, overlooking the entire city.

The city had now become quite prosperous, with many residents moving in. These people worked in the territory, and some rented houses from Richard to start businesses like restaurants.

The merchants in the city and their escorts were their customers.

In the later stages, Richard planned to gradually reduce the “free food” treatment, increase wages, and then open up food purchases. Residents of the territory could also buy food like potatoes from him for secondary processing and resale, making the entire territory’s economy thrive.

By then, not only could money be made from selling food, but also through commercial taxes, a large amount of gold coins could be earned.

However, what Richard was considering now was not this matter.

It was the opportunity in this great turmoil.

For Richard, this wave of great turmoil also contained great opportunities.

Even without considering longer-term matters, if this turmoil was handled well, his strength could increase many times over.

He might even take off in a single bound.

However, before that, those two viscounts who had designs on him should be dealt with first.

“Has Dorothy set off?” Richard asked.

Mia nodded and said, “Yes, she has already set off. I also sent scouts to the territories of those two viscounts. Master, the territories of those two viscounts are not close. It will take quite some time to sneak in without cavalry.”

Richard said, “No need to worry, Mia. In this turbulent situation, no one will notice if two viscounts disappear.”