Chapter Ninety-Five: As Long as You Have Money

"Why did you have the other side move the garrison out of here? Without the garrison, what are we supposed to use to fend off those magical beasts?" Kicking open the door to Zhou Tian's study, Vivian and the others stormed in and immediately began scolding him.

"It's fine."

"What do you mean, fine!" Seeing Zhou Tian's calm reaction, Aphra slapped his desk hard several times and snapped, "Without those soldiers, when the next beast uprising comes, are you expecting the rest of us to stand out there and hold them back?"

"Can't you?"

"Of course we can!" Aphra answered almost by reflex, then blushed red as she realized what she'd said. Immediately after, she slammed Zhou Tian's desk a few more times and shouted, "Just because we can do it doesn't mean we should have to do everything! With their help, wouldn't things be much easier for us? Why should that duke be allowed to take everyone away?"

"It's all right." Zhou Tian answered her in the same steady tone, then glanced at the others, who also looked dissatisfied, before finally explaining, "The reason Duke Li wanted to take those soldiers away is that I made a deal with him using the garrison as the bargaining chip. From this day on, aside from a major beast outbreak, the Northern Army will no longer provide us with any support. In exchange, the Yanhuang Empire will turn a blind eye to us."

"What kind of rotten deal is that? It's completely unfair! He doesn't even have to pay a price, and he gets to cut down a lot of work, while all we get is some promise that we don't even know is useful. How could you agree to that?" Aphra shouted, pounding the desk without a second thought.

"I really don't know what they taught you in the Holy City." Zhou Tian sighed. In the glare of Aphra's murderous eyes, he looked at her and said, "The Church and the empires on the continent have an agreement. The Church only has the right to preach; it must never interfere in local administration. Aside from the Church's own holy city, whenever Church personnel act outside, anything involving local affairs requires the cooperation of the empire. They cannot act on their own. Now that Li Jiahao has given us that promise, this frontier town will become something like a holy city. We will have absolute authority here. No matter what we do in this city, the empire will no longer interfere."

"Oh, I see!" After hearing Zhou Tian's explanation, Aphra finally stopped making a scene.

"Speaking of which..."

"What is it?"

"Doesn't your hand hurt, Aphra? You've been pounding the desk nonstop."

"Now that you mention it..." At those words, Aphra, who had shown no reaction a moment earlier, suddenly burst into tears. While desperately blowing on her hand, which had turned red and swollen from all that pounding, she pointed at the desk and complained to Zhou Tian, "What kind of cursed desk is this? Before, I could smack it a few times and it would fall apart! Why is it still perfectly fine even after I hit my hand this badly today? It hurts!"

"Hmph. Serves you right for beating on my desk. Now you know how formidable I am, don't you? Those few hundred points of spiritual energy weren't wasted when I exchanged them for this desk. Aside from being comfortable to use, it's really sturdy indeed!" Of course, Zhou Tian only thought such things to himself. If he actually dared to say them aloud, Aphra would probably never let him off.

Seeing Zhou Tian and Aphra at it again, Vivian finally coughed in mild annoyance before looking at Zhou Tian and asking, "Even if your deal with that Duke Li wasn't a loss for us, we can't possibly stay in this frontier town forever. In the end, this town still needs a security force. Now that the garrison has all been taken away, where are we supposed to find security personnel in the future?"

"That's actually very easy to handle." Zhou Tian replied with the same calm expression, then said, "If you want soldiers, that's not hard. All you need is money."

"Money?" Clearly, Vivian had spent so long in the Holy City of Light that everything she needed was arranged for her. Aside from occasionally feeling she didn't have enough money when shopping, she had almost never felt short of it. So after hearing Zhou Tian's words, she naturally found them hard to accept.

"One gold coin equals one hundred silver coins, and one silver coin equals ten thousand copper coins. A loaf of bread is worth about one copper coin. In other words, if we take an ordinary civilian family of three as an example, and their daily expenses are ten copper coins, then even with a few special costs added in, a normal civilian household would only need five or six silver coins a month."

"So little!" After hearing Zhou Tian, the women, who were all used to spending money lavishly, couldn't help exclaiming in unison.

Ignoring Vivian and the others, Zhou Tian continued, "Maybe you think that amount is tiny, but that's the reality. Most ordinary civilians in the empire may not go hungry, but for the most part they only manage to stay fed and clothed. A monthly expense of five or six silver coins is definitely not underestimated. As for the Yanhuang Empire's army, even when they serve in a place like the Beast Forest, their monthly pay is at most only around ten silver coins. And yet, every time the Yanhuang Empire recruits soldiers, countless civilians still rush to apply. What they seek is not some dream of defending the nation; that's far too distant for them. Those civilians want to enlist for no other reason than the ten silver coins they receive each month."

"Hearing you put it that way, weren't we a bit too 'corrupt' before?" Thinking about how she usually spent several thousand gold coins each time she went shopping, merely to buy clothes she rarely wore, Vivian, who often seemed a little dark-hearted but was actually kind, couldn't help feeling ashamed of her past behavior. Meanwhile, the civilians were willing to join the army and guard a place as dangerous as the Beast Forest just for a mere ten silver coins a month.

Not noticing the change in their expressions, Zhou Tian finished speaking about the civilians' standard of living, then went on to say to Vivian and the others, "If ten silver coins a month can persuade so many civilians to enlist, then tell me—if we offered one gold coin a month, would we still have to worry about not finding anyone?"

"So stingy!"

"You clearly have money, and yet you only give those soldiers such a tiny reward!"

"......"

A vein bulging on his forehead, Zhou Tian stood behind Vivian and the others with a face like a demon's, glaring at them as he snapped, "Enough with the sarcastic comments from the sidelines! If all of you were willing to spend ten percent less each month—no, half as much—I would give those soldiers a bigger monthly salary."

"One gold coin seems like enough already. After all, that's ten times the pay of an ordinary soldier."

"That should be about right. Otherwise, if you give too much money, it might make the Yanhuang Empire unhappy."

"Exactly, exactly..."

Seeing their reaction, Zhou Tian was so furious he nearly coughed up blood. Pointing at them, he roared, "At least show me a little shame!"

"Excuse me, what does that word mean?"

Zhou Tian spat blood...