Chapter 169: The Blood-Stained Trade Route

The day after Nicole left, Victor gathered a group of men within the manor to discuss matters concerning the freemen's caravan and the mercenary company.

"My lord, a typical caravan consists of over a hundred people, dozens of large wagons, and two or three hired mercenary companies, totaling around two hundred people. The caravan travels by day and camps by night. While traveling, the mercenaries are responsible for forging the path, guarding the flanks of the convoy, and covering the rear. When camped, the mercenaries take charge of the perimeter security. We rarely approach the convoy itself, and our food is always delivered by the caravan personnel.

A mercenary company hired by a caravan is bound to travel through desolate and rugged paths, so our primary enemies are gnolls and bandits. At night, the gnolls become bold and ferocious, and they even drive goblins, kobolds, and coyotes before them. Those goblins and kobolds use sling-bows to hurl stones at us, often leaving us battered and bruised. Anyone foolish enough to retaliate against those scum is guaranteed to be dragged off by the gnolls. To be honest, whenever we pass through gnoll territory, the War Bears never take the job with fewer than three mercenary companies, and our pay has to be doubled! Ah, despite our overwhelming numbers, some rookie mercenaries are always devoured by gnolls.

During the day, our main targets are bandits—who are actually mountain folk, or perhaps freemen... Anyway, the moment we see people, regardless of gender or age, we kill them all without leaving a single survivor! If even a single one escapes, the mission is considered a failure, and then it's our turn to run for our lives."

Perhaps recalling the knife-licking, blood-drinking mercenary life, Old John's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and his ferocious demeanor resembled that of a savage old wolf. Victor frowned slightly. He knew the War Bears mercenaries were no angels, but he had not expected them to slaughter everyone they encountered during escort missions, making them even more ruthless than bandits.

"Why do you say that if a single survivor escapes, you have to run for your lives? Are the mountain folk really strong enough to completely annihilate you?"

Nelson chimed in to explain, "My lord, the mountain folk certainly have decent strength, but they are still no match for us, and the caravan guards are even stronger than us—they always have at least a few squire knights among them. What we fear is not the mountain folk, but the people behind them. When a caravan hires mercenaries and takes remote paths, it is entirely to avoid interception by hostile families. The moment a single living witness escapes, large bodies of troops will soon pursue us. Though they disguise themselves as bandits, knights might well be hidden among them. If we don't run at that point, we might as well wait to be slaughtered to the last man."

"So that's how it is." Victor nodded, then asked with curiosity, "Since you all run away anyway, what happens if the mission fails?"

"The money is gone!" Nelson said with deep frustration. "When a mercenary company takes a job, they have to put up a large sum of money as a deposit for the employer. If the mission fails, not only is there no payment, but the deposit is lost as well."

Victor looked at Nelson with sympathy. Back then, the War Bears Mercenary Company had been so poor they could barely afford to eat, likely because they lacked the deposits to take on contracts. Yet, precisely because of this, Victor had acquired a batch of trustworthy subordinates; otherwise, he would have fallen entirely under Silvia's control, knowing full well that Silvia had originally arranged a group of men for him.

"Hammer, you come from a mountain background. Tell us about the situation of the mountain people."

The stocky and sturdy Hammer spoke in a deep voice, "My lord, we mountain folk have lived in the mountains and forests for generations, choosing easily defensible locations to build our camps. Normally, we rely on hunting and gathering to survive. We trade herbs, animal pelts, beast tendons, amber, honey, nuts, dried mushrooms, and the like with the outside villages for food, ironware, salt, linen cloth, and sheepskins, and we can also obtain weapons and leather armor in exchange.

The outside villages hold immense influence over the mountain people, and we must obey them. Otherwise, we will be trampled flat by armies, attacked by other mountain folk, or cut off from salt and grain. After I joined the War Bears, I learned that those villages actually trade with us under the instructions of feudal lords.

Whenever mountain folk discover monsters, they must report them to the village, and then we must cooperate with the lord's troops to wipe out those monsters. Sometimes, those village elder lords also demand that the mountain folk intercept caravans. In fact, even without the village elder's demands, whenever we spot strangers, we raid them and sell the looted goods back to the village elder. If the targets are numerous, we unite with other mountain folk to carry out raids. If we truly cannot defeat them, passing the news along to the outside village earns us a reward as well."

"The Law of the Black Forest!"

Victor shook his head and sighed. The lords built cities, towns, and villages near water sources and mineral veins, using these settlements as centers to control a 15-kilometer radius, enforcing laws and maintaining order. The remaining regions became lawless zones where mountain folk and freemen alike operated under the Law of the Black Forest. The lords used daily necessities and military force to control those mountain people, compelling them to forage for forest goods, monitor monsters, and plunder caravans for the family—exercising the very same Law of the Black Forest.

Victor had to admit that while the lord's control over the mountain people was cold-blooded and ruthless, it was also the most efficient and lowest-cost method. However, precisely because of this, those unruly mountain folk harbored not an ounce of loyalty toward the lord, and this was precisely the breakthrough point for the freemen's caravan plan.

"What is the scale of the mountain villages? What is the range of their control? Who are their biggest rivals? What are the relations between the villages?"

Hammer answered Victor's questions one by one: "Small mountain villages have about 50 people, while large ones do not exceed 300. The larger the village, the wider its controlled territory. For a village of 300 people, the area covered when hunters go out hunting for 15 days constitutes the village's sphere of influence. What mountain folk fear most are packs of gnolls and dire beasts. However, the lords help the mountain folk deal with gnolls; as for dire beasts, we try our best not to provoke them. If we truly cannot avoid them, we have no choice but to migrate, join other mountain camps, or plunder other mountain camps. Therefore, the mountain people's greatest rivals are other mountain people who have lost their hunting grounds. Mountain camps intermarry by giving away their daughters, but women have no say, and what truly dictates the relations between camps is the issue of hunting grounds."

Victor nodded and turned to Barit, the War Bears commander, asking, "You've studied this for so long. What is the plan regarding the mercenary company?"

Barit cleared his throat and said, "My lord, according to your requirements, the freemen caravan must first deal with mountain folk, traveling along mountain trails, woodlands, and wilderness. Constrained by the terrain, it is impossible to use horse-drawn carriages, and without carriages, supplies become a problem. Therefore, the scale of the caravan and the mercenary company cannot be large; it must be small. We believe the freemen merchants and mercenaries combined should not exceed 40 people. Considering safety issues, the configuration of the freemen caravan should be five merchants, thirty-five mercenaries, and seven handcarts.

Furthermore, the equipment provided by the lord is far too fine; that is not the equipment of mercenaries, but the gear of elite soldiers. I suggest that the mercenary company use weathered and worn weapons and armor; otherwise, those mountain people will see through our identities and pass the news to the villages they trade with. A lord might tolerate a mercenary company passing through, but he will not allow another family's soldiers to approach his territory."

At this point, Barit hesitated, wanting to say more, and Victor smiled, saying, "Speak your mind freely."

"My lord, supplies are insufficient, we cannot bring many people, and to conceal our identities, we cannot use good equipment. The wilderness at night is extremely perilous; no one knows how many gnolls, dire beasts, or even dire gnolls we might encounter. Moreover, the mountain people are no pushovers either—dealing with them requires beating them into submission first. My lord, safety is truly a major issue!"

"Go on."

"My lord, let's not bring merchants this time. Those freemen merchants are simply dead weight. When danger strikes, they probably won't even have the courage to run for their lives. Most importantly, without carriages, we cannot carry much cargo anyway. In my view, it would be better to replace the merchants with warriors. Since we are dealing with mountain folk anyway, they respect swords and heavy crossbows, not merchants," Barit said.

Victor and Nelson exchanged a glance, stood up, and said, "You see things very clearly: gnolls, goblins, kobolds, beasts, bandits, mountain folk, dire beasts, perhaps even the lord's guards and even knights—these are the enemies 30 mercenaries will face. Is this a matter of safety? This is continuous combat, wading all the way forward through blood and corpses! So, what are we fighting for? What are we killing for? What are we bleeding for?"

A dozen War Bears mercenaries looked at each other in dismay, and Victor continued, "For trade! We are going to carve out a commercial route with heavy bows, rigid crossbows, long spears, and sharp swords! You are good at fighting, but poor at business! Freemen merchants are poor at fighting, but excellent at business."

"Whether it is the mountain villages or the freemen camps, they all have intricate ties with the lords, yet they hold zero loyalty toward them. Therefore, subduing the mountain people is the first step in dealing with other lords. Furthermore, I want the mountain villages to become the caravan's staging posts; the mercenary company and the caravan can rest, resupply, and recruit personnel within the villages. To achieve this, relying solely on force will not work. If you push the mountain folk to the desperate edge, the lords will step in. The mercenary company must turn bandits into mountain folk, and the merchants must turn mountain people into mercenaries!"

"Do not look down upon freemen merchants. Today we protect them, and tomorrow they will protect us. Because behind the freemen merchants stands a colossal entity: the Church of Radiance! These merchants are slick, worldly, and astute. Let them deal with the lord's villages through the mountain folk, and then latch onto the church's coattails, and even the lords can only turn a blind eye. Ultimately, our raw sugar will be sold out, and local specialties from various lords will be bought back. When that day comes, all of you can sit at home and do nothing, and gold solars will flow into your pockets like water. By then, the mercenaries taking orders from us will not be numbered in hundreds, but in thousands!"

Everyone's blood surged and they grew immensely excited, stimulated by the future Victor painted, eager to immediately lead the mercenary company and carve out a path of blood for the sake of trade.

Victor paced back and forth with his hands behind his back: "This ice-breaking journey must be foolproof. For safety's sake, I will equip the mercenary company with 25 elite archers and 10 elite warriors. They are powerful soldiers, just like Shai and Renault."

Except for Nelson, everyone drew a sharp breath. They knew Victor possessed many elite soldiers, but they had not expected so many warriors capable of rivaling Renault. One must remember that Renault was comparable to Nelson in his early years, both being powerhouses surpassing squire knights.

"My lord, then there will be no problem at all!"

Victor waved his hand, signaling Barit to sit down, and continued, "In addition, I will equip the mercenary company with 10 dust falcons. The equipment cannot be worn-out either; after all, weapons and armor are our human advantage. Of course, I will have people process them to ensure no flaws are visible. Ten single-wheeled handcarts will be prepared, with those warriors serving as laborers. We also need to bring ten freemen merchants, plus three commanders—one chief and two deputies—making a total of 48 people. Decide on the specific candidates and inform me afterward."

"My lord, where are we going this time?" Barit asked.

Victor walked over to the giant map, frowned in contemplation, and finally let his gaze fall upon the territory of the Naver Kingdom: "We go to Naver."

Naver was mountainous and heavily forested, with barren soil, a scarcity of grain and cloth, and a local population that was impoverished yet fierce—making them excellent hunters who could also become outstanding mercenaries. Moreover, Naver was rich in iron ore and elemental crystals, and Victor needed more fire crystals, so he decided to first open up the trade route to Naver.

Victor thought for a moment and added, "The journey to Naver is long, arduous, and dangerous. When mercenaries encounter formidable enemies, will they sacrifice some companions to hold off the enemy and cover the rear?"

Nelson said in a deep voice, "That is unavoidable."

Victor pondered for a moment and said, "If such a situation arises, preserving your lives is the most important thing, followed by the freemen merchants. As for those soldiers, do not worry about them; protecting you is their mission."

"My lord, this..." Nelson cried out in surprise.

Victor glared fiercely at him and said to the dumbfounded old mercenaries, "You may not be as strong as them, but you are far more important than them. I need you to come back alive!"

"We are willing to die for the lord!" the mercenaries shouted in unison.

Victor smiled: "If you all die, you won't be worth anything anymore." Everyone burst into roaring laughter. After a moment, Victor continued, "I will dispatch a secret force to protect you in the shadows. You'll have a hard time dying even if you want to! However, they will not show themselves to you, and you do not need to go looking for them."

Nelson's gaze flickered before calming again. He knew the secret force Victor dispatched must undoubtedly be war mastiffs. Though he did not know how many would be sent, with these fellows accompanying them in secret, the mercenary company would have no need to fear ambushes by gnolls and dire beasts.

"This trip to Naver, whether we make a profit or not is secondary; opening up the trade route is the key. Especially the mountain villages and freemen camps along the way—make them nodes of the trade route, to be used by us. I have prepared 10,000 gold solars for you. Fight them or bribe them, I only look at the results."

The trading system Victor designed differed greatly from traditional caravans. Traditional caravans engaged in point-to-point trade, avoiding hostile families along the route and trading only with fixed lords. In contrast, Victor's freemen caravan did business with all lords, trading all the way as they traveled. Regardless of whether you were a hostile faction or an ally, anyone along the route was swept up in one net. The profits and influence brought by this kind of free trade were immeasurable, and only the status of freemen could realize such free trade. Victor intended precisely to use freemen merchants to infiltrate the mountain people, use the mountain people to infiltrate villages, use villages to infiltrate towns, and ultimately draw the lords into Victor's trading system. To achieve this goal, losing a little money in the early stages counted for nothing at all.

"My lord, the mountain folk practically never use gold solars." Hammer stood up to remind Victor.

A trace of a smile appeared on Victor's face as he nodded and said, "Ten handcarts indeed cannot hold much cargo, nor can they hold much grain. Aside from grain, salt, and cloth, do the mountain folk like arrowheads?"

"Arrowheads?" Hammer was stunned, then broke into a grin and said, "They love them to death!"

"Haha!" Victor laughed heartily for a while and said, "That settles it! Of course, the arrowheads I prepare won't satisfy all the mountain folk, so the rest will depend on the skills of the freemen merchants."

"Balor, have the candidates for the freemen merchants been finalized?"

Balor bowed deeply to Victor: "My lord, they have already been selected. My men are currently persuading them."