Munitions Empire

In the southern part of the Leite Kingdom, within the territory of the Dorne Kingdom, on the square of a small town, a man was waving his fists, shouting hoarsely, "They took our food! They don't treat us like humans! We should stand up and resist! Drive these bastards from Dorne off our land!"

He stood on a wooden crate, which bore the symbol of the Xilun Kingdom Commerce Association, containing flour that had been brought from afar, and the reason why so many people had gathered here.

Because by standing here and listening to the man's speech, everyone could receive a kilogram of flour, albeit not so fresh.

But flour was still edible, even if not that fresh. So everyone was willing to wait a while, thus the place was packed with people, almost like a sea of humanity.

The expansion of the Dorne Kingdom had been rapid, and although it had stabilized recently, it had still annexed an area almost as large as its own, doubling its territory.

Suddenly having so much more territory to manage, the domestic officials of Dorne were at their wits' end. They had no choice but to relax the management of some areas, allowing some low-level officials to engage in unrestrained extortion on the newly occupied territories.

After all, wars are fought for profit, and aside from developing new lands, the best way to profit was to exploit the labor of the occupied territories.

With management lagging behind and the resources consumed by warfare needing rapid replenishment, coupled with the entire kingdom thinking of continuing to expand the military, some dissatisfaction inevitably arose in the occupied territories.

For ordinary farmers, the confiscation of their grain and wealth was an unforgivable grievance.

In the crowd, a farmer—whether prearranged or suddenly inspired—raised his arm, angrily fanning the emotions of those around him, "Right! They are nothing but beasts! The food that we have toiled so hard to grow is being taken away by them! We should drive them out!"

On another side of the crowd, another man became incited. He too raised his arm, shouting angrily, "This is our country! Outsiders can never be relied upon!"

They were not lacking in courage, nor were they short of determination to protect their country and homes. It was only because those officials who rode roughshod over them were too cowardly and greedy that their kingdom had been annihilated by Dorne.

The greedy, cowardly military had almost no fighting power, utterly defeated by the enemy's modern weapons, and in the end, even King City had fallen.

But this did not mean they could not defeat Dorne. As long as they had weapons like those of Dorne, they could take back everything they had lost!

Now! Shireck had promised to provide them with weapons, advanced ones! They would soon be able to chase away the Dorne garrison and become the new officials, the new slavers and farm owners, ruling the country themselves!

At this thought, the man who had been covertly inciting the crowd, swinging his fists, began to shout with even more effort, "This is our country! Outsiders can never be relied upon!"

The crowd grew noisy, whispering among themselves, and the flames in the eyes of many young people could no longer be hidden.

Then, a timid and honest farmer, holding a hoe, stood in the midst of the crowd and began to express his doubts, "But... before, those farm owners, those slave owners... they also took away most of our food." Find adventures on m_v l|e'm-p y r

Yes, in his view, those former officials were hardly any better than the officials from Dorne.

They too would take possession of the common people's daughters, just as they would molest the farmer's wives, demand heavy taxes, and take every copper coin from their bodies.

Immediately, someone stepped forward and shouted back at him, "That's different! When we paid our taxes before, it was to our own nobility! Now that the people of Dorne have taken over, they are taking more than ever!"

After all, the addition of a group of outsiders sharing the pie was unacceptable, as to whether these foreigners really took more, who knew?

A woman, apparently afraid that the men of her household would have to go to war again, asked anxiously, "They have guns! What do we have? Stones?"

The man standing on the crate announced loudly and proudly, "We have guns, too! Lord Henry has already contacted Shireck's men, and they've agreed to provide us with weapons!"

This so-called Lord Henry was actually a major slave owner nearby, and most of the people here feared this cruel noble, so the voices of doubt suddenly became quieter.

Still, some were fearful of the prospect of war, as they had seen Dorne's troops passing through this small town.

At least that military unit seemed very disciplined, committed no offenses against civilians, and when they passed through, the young officer in charge even left behind a substantial amount of food.

Only later did a local official who took charge of the town prove to be detestable, as he found excuses to confiscate all that food.

So someone continued to question the man giving the speech on the crate, "But can we really defeat the military?"

"Rest assured! Soon, the Xilun Kingdom to the south, and the Taren Kingdom even further down, will both attack Dorne! We are not fighting alone!" the man standing on the crate continued to incite everyone.

Then, the burly men standing next to him nodded in understanding and opened the crate beneath their feet, taking out the rations that had already been allocated.

One after another, they handed out cloth bags to the peasants and had them press their thumbprints on a piece of paper. Literate farmers read it and realized it was just a certificate for receiving rations and didn't contain any excessive demands.

"Down with Dorne!" Soon, those who had received their rations became excited, for them, whoever provided their sustenance was in the right.

This was the most basic route to bribery—if you give enough, then you can win the support of those who benefit. Sometimes these peasants are ignorant and shortsighted, only considering immediate interests, yet often overlooking or, shall we say, trampling on the interests of others or their own long-term benefits...

More and more people began to shout along, with many seeming to feel that it was time to drive away those Dornish rulers.

"Take back everything we've lost!" they cried out frantically, many blindly following and raising their hayforks or farm tools in the air.

"We shall reverse the roles and rule over Dorne! There are more fertile lands there!" the man giving the speech declared with righteous indignation: "Once our weapons are secretly transported over, we can proudly raise our own flag! Become the masters of this land!"

The peasants were stirred up as well, remembering tales of far-off places: "We shall take back Hotwind Port! It is said to be filled with gold!"

"We shall march into Leite! Into Brunas!" greedier voices joined the frenzied throng.

A storm was brewing in Dorne...

...

"Your Highness, the prince... has he lost his mind..." Tang Mo asked the orc standing beside the girl—or rather, if she could truly be called a girl...

There was a bit of discrepancy between this girl and the traditional image Tang Mo had of a young maiden, or rather, the girl standing before him was what would have been referred to in his past life's memories as a "beast girl."

Right now, the girl standing before Tang Mo had fluffy ears on either side of her head, which made it hard for him to contain the heat rising in his body.

She, in turn, was sizing up Tang Mo with wide, appealing eyes that fluttered, prompting in a man the irresistible urge to commit a crime.

It must be said that Tang Mo had seen his fair share of beauties before the crossing, and even after crossing paths with Alice, she was a top-tier beauty. But the temptation standing before him now... he had never faced such a challenge before.

"She is the one we chose from among the Gales Kingdom's refugees. The prince's intention is... that she... is our way of thanking Mr. Tang... a gift," the orc who delivered the cat-eared girl said humbly.

"That's not really appropriate... How can a person be treated as a gift?" Tang Mo said, wavering and reluctant, even he himself could hear the shaking in his voice.

He was neither a paragon of fidelity nor a chaste scholar. Faced with such a novel and... delightful encounter, he still retained a spirit of exploration.

"The prince asked that you please accept her... If you don't, she will be killed upon her return," the persistent orc emissary urged.

Orcs might be this world's most ludicrous race, with their females occasionally becoming exotic beauties while the males were so ugly with green faces and sharp teeth, nowhere near a match for each other.

To make matters worse, orc men passed on their strong genes to their sons, while orc women's genes were carried on by their daughters, resulting in an odd race where the men were hideously ugly, and the women, strikingly beautiful.

In fact, aside from being momentarily moved, Tang Mo didn't really know what to do with this cat-eared girl.

Keeping her close as a personal maid or such, he worried about loyalty issues; even serving tea and delivering water might involve the risk of her poisoning or assassination attempt. Even if it was just to indulge in a night of frivolity, Tang Mo didn't want to be a debauched apparition under the peony.

This was akin to a tycoon visiting a nightclub; although the beauties were enticing, they could easily become liabilities and lose even more. Hence, they often stayed clear of unfamiliar environments and people—Brother Dong didn't heed the warning, so he paid a heavy price, a lesson learned in blood.

"Killed? That would be a crime against nature," Tang Mo remarked while stroking his chin: "Then she shall stay! Such a beauty, it's nice to chat with... don't you agree, Wes?"

"Yes, you're right," Wes glanced at Tang Mo, teasingly adding a comment: "Very right."