On the 22nd day, the team arrived at a small town called Rova in the northern part of the province.

Waiting here is Polomir, the son of Baron Pierre, and his supply brigade.

Polomir had already gone to the north more than a month ago to receive the land purchased by Chen Daolin and others from the Governor's Office.

At this moment, the baron's son purchased a large amount of food, agricultural tools, seeds and other supplies near the city of Rova, according to the prior plan, and waited here to meet Chen Daolin's northbound troops.

At the same time, Polomir also has another mission, which is to serve as the midway supply team of Chen Daolin's Northbound Army here.

A large team of ten thousand people, mixed with a large number of cars and horses, appeared on the road in a vast way, endlessly.

In fact, even the defenders of Rova City were stunned by this scene.

For a whole afternoon, the roads to the south were filled with crowds and carriages.

The city of Rova is not on the main road, nor is it a marching route to the northern border fortress, so this large-scale migration of more than 10,000 people is enough to make these local bystanders talk about for the past lifetime.

The population of Rova City is not large, with only a few thousand local households living there. The defenders stationed here only have one team of fifty local garrisons, as well as some temporary farmers who are similar to militias.

Although Polomir has no special talents, he still completed the tasks assigned to him quite well.

He had been in the north for a month and had collected a large amount of supplies here. After meeting Chen Daolin, Chen Daolin was very satisfied and saw that the list of hoarding supplies he handed to Polomir had been completed by more than 70%.

"The price of grain here is twice as expensive as the south, and the amount we purchased is too large. I have bought almost all the stored grains that can be found within a few hundred miles in the north. This is also because we are lucky. I met a transport team from the Tulip Territory, who were responsible for transporting military supplies to the defenders stationed in the north. I made acquaintances with the leader of the team. He promised me that he could sell us a batch of grain at a price of 20% higher than the market."

"Nothing will happen." Chen Daolin frowned: "I don't want any conflicts with the Tulips' army. Such reselling of military supplies will always cause trouble."

"No." Polomir was very sure: "The batch of grain they sold was stockpiled with the time limit. I asked clearly that the Tulips family treated their army very well. The garrisons in the border fortress all enjoyed the best food. Once the grain was stored for a certain period of time, they were not allowed to be eaten by the army. Instead, they dispose of the grain and replaced with new food. The leader of the transport team said that he knew the quarantine officers in the border fortress and could help us buy a batch of grain - those grains were completely edible in my opinion. Anyway, they would have to deal with a batch of grain regularly every year, and it was also the Tulips family who allowed this practice - they would sell it for everyone. As for selling it to us, the leader only needs to get a little benefit."

Chen Daolin sat there, knocked his fingers on the table, thought for a moment, and nodded: "Then do it like this! According to the price and conditions you mentioned...but add one, I ask them to deliver the food to our territory, and I don't want to pay another extra shipping fee."

Polomir quickly went out, leaving Chen Daolin and Montoya in the room.

Chen Daolin sighed, Montoya looked at Chen Daolin unexpectedly, frowned and said, "Sir, is there anything wrong with it?"

"This Polomir was slaughtered."

"Well?"

Chen Daolin said lightly: "It is not surprising that the old grain is handled in the army. But generally speaking, the price of old grain for sale in this way should be at least 30% cheaper than on the market. And if the quality of the goods is lower, the price of a few old grain is 70% lower. When I was in the imperial capital, I heard that many wine-making merchants ate large amounts of old grain to make wine."

Montoya's eyes changed and his face looked a little ugly: "Sir... Will he be from this Polomir..."

"No," Chen Daolin shook his head and said slowly: "When he reported this to me just now, his expression was very excited, and he looked like he had completed his mission and expressed his merits to me - his expression was definitely not like it was disguised. If it was pretending, then this Polomir would be much more powerful than we imagined. He had no ability. He should have been deceived by those quarantine officers. But it doesn't matter, isn't it just spending more money? I'm missing anything now, but I don't lack money. Spending more money and having relationships with these quarantine officers on the border guards will be very good for us in the future."

After a pause, Chen Daolin said slowly: "We need to gain a foothold in the future and build a nest here. We need a large amount of various materials. These materials cannot satisfy us by purchasing them from the Nulin Province. The Nulin Province is originally barren. However, the army stationed by the Tulips on the border can make their ideas. I heard that the Tulips on the border has more than 10,000 regular troops, and 20,000 servants and auxiliary troops. These more than 30,000 troops consume military supplies every year, and a large number of military supplies are damaged and replaced. In addition to food, many defective products eliminated from the army will be sold. We might as well eat them all."

...

Although Rova City is a city, to be precise, it can only be regarded as a town.

That night, the local mayor invited Chen Daolin to the banquet.

Speaking of which, this is Bolomir's credit. Bolomir stayed here for a long time according to Chen Daolin's instructions, scattered gold coins and purchased a large amount of supplies.

There hasn't been such a big money-owner and a rich man in Luowa City for many years.

The generous Master Polomir was just a subordinate of someone else. Now, Master Polomir's master came to Rova with such a migration brigade of tens of thousands of people. Naturally, these local figures were rushing to make friends with this wealthy big man.

Faced with such an invitation, Chen Daolin's reaction was very strange. He politely rejected the mayor's invitation to dinner, but instead sent an invitation, inviting the mayor, as well as the garrison officers in the town and other leading figures, to go to the camp where he was stationed in the wilderness outside the town - a picnic!

That night, the mayor, the garrison officer, and several well-known figures in the city of Rova were invited to Chen Daolin's camp.

What surprised these people was that Chen Daolin's camp was stationed on a slope outside Rova City, and it spreads in a circular shape with the slope as the center.

There is no doubt that the tent where Chen Daolin and others live on is the slope.

The mayor and garrison officers of Rova City had never seen such a large-scale migration. What made them curious was that among the crowds of migrating teams everywhere, people in clean white clothes could always be seen walking around.

These people obviously have different identities and are obviously higher than those ordinary people. Wherever they go, the people around them will take the initiative to bend down to salute them, and even make way for respect.

These people in white robes are responsible for commanding people to camp, arrange people to go to the water source to get water, arrange people to rest, and will also take people around to patrol.

The place where Chen Daolin entertained everyone was naturally outside his camp on the hillside.

An open-air bonfire has been lit and a row of barbecue grills are placed next to it.

Several skinned and cleaned lambs were sliced ​​into pieces and placed on the barbecue rack.

Five people in gray robes were standing next to the grill, holding a brush in their hands, brushing various seasonings on the lamb over and over again.

The high-quality spices from the imperial capital brought by Chen Daolin gave these local buns from Luowa City a feast. After drinking the five barrels of wine that Chen Daolin brought out, the mayor of Luowa City was already drunk and almost forgot about his intention to arrive tonight.

Fortunately, there was someone around him reminding him.

Under the prompt from the mayor's side, the mayor of Rova City made some requests to Chen Daolin with some embarrassment.

Did Chen Daolin put down his wine glass? After listening carefully to the mayor's words, he showed a peaceful and friendly smile on his face.

That night, this mysterious noble man from the south of the empire (Polomir said) reached many agreements with the mayor of Rova City and some local merchants.

This included more than a dozen huge purchase orders worth more than a thousand gold coins. Chen Daolin proposed that he would need to look at farm tools and building materials, including sand, gravel, and a large labor gap in the next two years.

What surprised the locals was that this noble master was so generous that the price he offered was even more than everyone's original best expectations.

In the northwest, sand and gravel are all over the place, and you just need to dig it out from the ground. Although the quality of the sand and stone required by this noble man is relatively high, fine sand is nothing more than spending some time sifting it over several times.

And his demand is so large, it can be foreseeable that in the next two years, the fiscal revenue of the entire Rova City will increase rapidly due to the arrival of this noble master.

The mayor himself would naturally benefit a lot. With the help of alcohol, he introduced someone around him to Chen Daolin. The biggest businessman in Luowa City was his wife's brother.

The small requests Chen Daolin made naturally received the mayor's happy promise.

Chen Daolin's requirements include that Rova City must fully allow Chen Daolin to send people to preach in the towns of Rova and the six villages under its jurisdiction. Chen Daolin promised that the religion he spread would never violate any imperial law.

As a manifestation of the friendship between the two sides, the mayor of Rova City promised that the missionary team sent by Chen Daolin would be protected by the official Rova City. He even promised that garrison soldiers could be sent to protect Chen Daolin's missionary team.

When the atmosphere of the conversation between the two sides became better and better, at the end, the mayor embarrassedly raised the last topic:

tax!

The six thousand acres of wasteland that Chen Daolin purchased from the Governor's Office of the Noir Province are all within the jurisdiction of Noir City!

This is not unusual. The northwest areas are vast and sparsely populated. The land area under a small town is far greater than that of the empire and the south.

But since Chen Daolin came here, he bought 6,000 acres of land and was said to have to build a city here, which brought tens of thousands of people.

Then, an unavoidable question is placed in front of everyone!

After all, Chen Daolin was not a nobleman of the empire! This was not his territory either! To be precise, Chen Daolin just bought these lands as a white "merchant" and brought these populations.

Then, whether he is doing business here or building a city, he must be included in the system under the jurisdiction of the government of the Roland Empire, which means... he must also pay taxes to the local government like everyone else!

Of course, Chen Daolin could bargain. After all, he had tens of thousands of troops and brought more than 200 fully armed mercenaries.

Such a force will undoubtedly become a "powerful" in the local area when he comes to Rova City. If he is unwilling to pay taxes, then to be honest, with the pitiful garrison troops in Rova City, there is no way to force him to submit.

Of course, Chen Daolin did not intend to do this. If this is the case, he would completely offend the official of Rova City to death.

Moreover, armed tax resistance is almost equivalent to open rebellion.

But Chen Daolin was also very clear that he had the capital to bargain. In such remote places, the sky was high and the emperor was far away. Even if he did not pay the tax, the local government could not deal with him. At most, he would report the case layer by layer.

As long as everyone does not break up and does not openly erect the anti-bank, then there will be a lawsuit like this.

In the end, it can only be a result of both sides suffering. I believe everyone doesn't want to see such a result.

After some discussion, Chen Daolin proposed a solution: cover taxes!

In other words, he was willing to discuss with the mayor a number that everyone agreed with, and then from the next year, his own city, no matter how many people, no matter what business it is, whether it is a good harvest or a disaster, will pay a tax to the local government according to this number every year.

This is a happy result.

Although the mayor of Luowa City knew that Chen Daolin would definitely have reservations about this "tax-inclusive" number, and this number will definitely allow Chen Daolin to take advantage of it in the future.

But there is no better way at the moment.

Moreover, even if you collect too much tax, you can't get into your own pocket. It's just that your political achievements are better. Anyway, the tax-encapsulated figure that Chen Daolin promised to pay every year is enough to increase his government's fiscal revenue a lot.

The banquet that night was a joy.

The final climax was the "prayer ceremony" held by Chen Daolin and others!

When the banquet reached its climax, Chen Daolin and others stood up and claimed guilty to the locals such as Mayor Luowa. When they took their women and subordinates around the fire, they began their daily prayer ceremony. These Rowas were surprised to find that the noise and noise of tens of thousands of people that had not stopped all night was not stopped. Suddenly, they became quiet in a very short time!!

Part of it is out of self-consciousness, while the other part is seeing many "god servants" wearing gray robes pressing around to maintain order, running around among the camping crowds, drinking the people who are still talking noisily.

And all people showed full obedience to this kind of drinking.

More than twenty believers in white robes, plus more than one hundred divine servants, finally surrounded them next to the hillside.

Chen Daolin even made an exception tonight, allowing those formal believers in white robes to come to the hillside to stand with them and others around the fire to pray.

This "extraordinary kindness" immediately made the Protestants cry. Mayor Rova even saw in surprise that a few people who had seen who were wearing white robes and were highly respected in the crowd actually crawled on the ground on the spot, so moved that they wanted to kiss Chen Daolin's shoes!!!

After the prayer ceremony began, the Rova people were even more surprised to find that people wearing white robes and gray robes were singing at the same time.

No one could understand the lyrics they sang, but these people sang intoxicatedly, hoarsely, and spoke in unison...

As we sang, the scale of the chorus began to expand.

There are many places closer to the hillside, and some camping civilian teams also sing softly to echo, and the echoing songs are becoming more and more loud and louder.

In the end, this kind of chorus came from almost half of the camp!
To be continued...