Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 310 - 310 152 Not Returning to the Fields After Disarming_3

310: Chapter 152: Not Returning to the Fields After Disarming_3 310: Chapter 152: Not Returning to the Fields After Disarming_3 Before matters and after matters both form an important part of building a strong military.

Tax reduction, relief subsidies, housing and fostering…

Leon recalled various corresponding measures and detailed systems from ancient dynasties of his previous life, which he still needed to discuss with Azeryan and others.

The young and strong of Platon were the first to disperse and leave.

Next, the young and strong squad of Longka also disbanded locally, keeping only the bare minimum of militia, abandoning their weapons to become civilians, the elderly, women, and children of Longka returned to their homes, which had been transformed from a “village” to a “fortress” beyond recognition, and started to restore the once-trampled and destroyed farmlands.

Fortunately, now that every household had young adults who had participated in the war, the residents of Longka, whose incomes had substantially increased, were going to have a year much more relaxed and carefree than before.

The Selvians were the last to leave.

Having brought back victorious veterans, Leon disbanded the conscripted soldiers, sending them home to recuperate, while Sir Redo also departed to report back to Lady Adelina.

The next day, after just one night of rest, Leon gathered his family members to discuss the affairs of the territory.

Around the long table in the first-floor hall sat Azeryan, Lokhak, Mr.

Brian Sr., Olivia, Kovis, and Elena.

First, Leon briefly listened to Miss Elena, who had been entrusted as the steward to supervise the affairs of the territory, reporting on the state of the territories while everyone was away at war.

The progress of the Selva Camp, which had been halted once because of the war, was now only about halfway done, but the barracks already constructed could accommodate at least sixty to seventy soldiers for daily living.

Moreover, to Leon’s surprise, the newly established East Selva, under the care of the supply trains and soldiers traveling through the forest, had already begun bringing in substantial revenue, and considerable commercial taxes were expected to be collected this year.

Finally, there were those hundred or so refugees from Aiken Village.

They established a camp on the western side of the North Slope of Selva and participated in building the camp and the village towns as laborers in exchange for food and payment.

These villagers from Wolf Territory’s Aiken, Leon planned to talk with their leader, inviting them to settle in Selva.

If anyone insisted on returning to Aiken, Leon wouldn’t stop them, but he felt that no one would want to go back there after hearing the bad news he had brought.

Their little village, every bit of belongings left by the villagers had been looted and nothing remained in Aiken now.

Of course, the Thorny Flower Family’s army had never set foot in Wolf Territory; it wasn’t Leon who had plundered the village.

According to what Leon had seen when investigating with the Scout Riders, he estimated that it was likely done by a disorderly group conscripted by the Wolf Family, and maybe soldiers from Wolfenhol were involved too.

Now returning, the villagers of Aiken would face being penniless, without livestock, without any possessions or food.

Starting anew anywhere, Leon considered himself definitely more lenient than the tax officials of Wolf Territory.

Conveniently, Selva had vast tracts of land to distribute and just lacked people to farm them.

As for the original locals of Selva…

The local young and strong had fallen into a strangely inexplicable heightened morale.

As soon as they returned to the territory yesterday, when the military column was dismissed at the barracks and weapons and armor were recalled to the arsenal, these young locals who had turned swords into plowshares visibly struggled to adjust.

Having received the earliest batch of ransom distributions and now obtained spoils of war and military pay, the pockets of Selva’s people were exceedingly wealthy.

The old soldiers, clutching more money than they could ever earn as farmers, were not only unscared by the battle of Longka but seemed completely uninterested in returning home to farm.

This wasn’t a problem at all.

Now that Selva was financially affluent, sufficiently armed, and had reliable people, Leon didn’t mind quickly training the Selva’s people into an elite standing army…

The problem was, if the local young and strong didn’t want to farm, someone still needed to tend to the fields on the western side of the territory.

People always need to eat, last year Gray Robe Valley was bountiful, and the markets in the south lacked no grain, but if it happened to be a bad year without reserves, then an untold higher price would be paid to buy food later.

Those villagers from Aiken just now could fill the labor gap caused by locals leaving for military service.

…discussing one matter after another of the territory governance, Leon looked at Miss Elena’s summarized financial report of the territory, as well as the expenses and costs of rations and pensions tallied by Azeryan.

Since the last financial settlement to today, he had altogether spent approximately 700 gold crowns.

But seeing this considerable expenditure, Leon was not panicking.

Not to mention the weapons, armor, and warhorses captured in the war valued over thirteen hundred gold crowns.

Just with the Sealing Lord’s hefty reward of five thousand gold crowns, he was somewhat unsure how to spend it.

Truly, it was a happy dilemma.