Country bumpkins who've seen nothing of the world!
Good thing it's just the three of us out here in the wilderness. If anyone else saw this... I, as a Lord, truly couldn't afford such a loss of face.
"Get up, get up... It's just a trifle. Your Lord knows so much more," Yan Xing said, having the two peasants stand up and then sit down around the table. As he distributed the utensils, he continued, "Your Lord's name is Yan Xing, and it implies 'Promises must be kept.' From now on, 'Lord Yan Xing, His Word Is His Bond' will be my family motto.
What are your names? Let your Lord get to know you."
Yan Xing didn't particularly care about these things, speaking casually.
However, when faced with Yan Xing's question about their names, the two peasants glanced at each other and said in unison, "My Lord, we are mere commoners; we don't have names."
"No names? Then how do you address each other?"
"There are only two of us here, my Lord. We have no need for names."
The scene fell silent. Indeed, with just the two of them, names weren't truly necessary. But...
Yan Xing declared passionately, "As subjects of me, Lord Yan Xing, how can you not have names? Besides, this place is destined to prosper; it won't be just the two of you forever. Come, come... I shall grant you names!"
Yan Xing took out his cracked-screen smartphone, intending to use a naming app. But there was no signal!
No internet access. This is a true test of my, Lord Yan's, naming skills.
Both peasants had Western features; they definitely needed names with a Western style.
Of course, as my subjects, they couldn't lack an Eastern touch either.
"You..." Yan Xing pointed to the taller peasant. "You shall be called Gao Sipa."
Then, Yan Xing pointed to the shorter, sturdier peasant. "And you shall be called Eddie."
Overjoyed to the point of tears at being granted names by their Lord, the two peasants immediately prostrated themselves, kowtowing and shouting, "Long live the Lord!" They then kissed Yan Xing's mud-covered shoes.
"Enough, enough! Get up and eat. Your Lord has important matters to discuss with you," Yan Xing said, having Gao Sipa and Eddie rise and sit down again.
By now, the water in the pot was boiling, and the hotpot base had dissolved into the water, forming a rich broth.
The bubbling water and pungent aroma caused the two peasants to swallow hard.
Yan Xing picked up the vegetables, meatballs, and meat, dumping them all into the pot without any particular order. He then poured each peasant a bowl of strong liquor.
Eagerly, he asked, "Wait a moment. Once it's cooked, we can eat. I want to ask you two, where can I recruit peasants like yourselves, who can contribute weekly taxes to me?"
Gao Sipa and Eddie stared at the ingredients in the hotpot, their eyes as wide as saucers. However, they dared not treat their Lord's question lightly.
Gao Sipa replied, "Reporting to my Lord, we are the humblest of peasants and know very little. We only know that a Lord's high reputation and the prosperity of his domain can attract vagrants. Peasants blessed by the gods can also be recruited from peasant huts within the domain or in the wilderness."
"Then there's childbirth. As long as there's food, drink, and protection, our Human race is quite proficient at procreation."
"Another method is to raid peasants from other domains. And because Human peasants possess a taxation talent unique among races, they are often plundered by other races..."
This Gao Sipa thinks clearly... he can be cultivated.
Yan Xing, having played strategy management games himself, quickly understood the peasant recruitment methods Gao Sipa described.
First, develop the domain to attract vagrants through high reputation and prosperity. Where these vagrants came from was likely a game world mechanic.
Second, build peasant recruitment structures. If I'm not mistaken, a Lord should be able to recruit peasants from these structures periodically and in set numbers.
Third, natural reproduction—a standard means of population growth.
Fourth, plundering.
Since Human peasants were the only race with an innate talent for taxation, this ability elevated their value to a strategic level.
Domain development, maintaining order, and expansion all consumed incalculable amounts of Gold.
And Human peasants could contribute one God-given Gold Coin in taxes out of thin air each week... Who wouldn't be envious!
Naturally, they became a strategic resource everyone coveted.
At that moment, Yan Xing suddenly recalled something. He promptly opened his attribute panel, his eyes fixing on his hero specialty.
Hero Specialty: Popular Support (Increases attractiveness to Human peasants and administrative efficiency. Inspire: Boosts the morale of subjects and friendly troops).
When Yan Xing had first seen this hero specialty, he had thought little of it, even scoffing at it inwardly.
With peasants having basic attributes of one in everything, what's the use of recruiting more of them?
Based on what he currently knew about this world, there were dragons and Magic here. According to the settings of Magic-themed games, peasants—those background NPCs—weren't even considered monsters.
No matter how many peasants you have, would they even be enough for others to pick their teeth with?
However, now knowing that peasants were the only race with the innate talent for taxation, Yan Xing's perception of his own specialty—and of Gao Sipa and Eddie—changed dramatically.
This specialty... Recruiting peasants is like a divine skill for laying golden eggs!
The hotpot came to a boil again, the mixed aromas of various ingredients making it even more enticing.
Yan Xing kindly ladled a large bowl full of food for each of the two peasants. Then, raising his own bowl of liquor, he said in a hearty, boisterous manner, "Today is the first day we've met. I'm grateful that you two brothers are willing to follow me and strive together for a common cause."
"I, Yan Xing, won't bother with fancy speeches. Let's talk about practical matters."
"As long as you loyally follow me and work hard, I guarantee you'll eat and drink your fill every day—hearty meat and strong wine! If anyone dares to bully us, I, your Lord, will personally lead you to hack them to pieces!"
"Come, let's drain this bowl and deepen our bond!"
Gao Sipa and Eddie raised their bowls in unison, shouting, "Lord Yan Xing, Your Word Is Your Bond!"
Yan Xing hadn't expected the family motto he'd casually mentioned to sound so rousing when shouted together. He laughed heartily. "That's right! Lord Yan Xing, His Word Is His Bond!"
The three of them drained their bowls in one gulp.
The potent liquor caused the peasants, tasting such strong spirits for the first time, to cough repeatedly. Yan Xing laughed and urged them, "Eat, eat, eat! Eat and drink your fill! There's plenty of food and wine!"
With delicious food and fine wine in their bellies, and spurred on by the alcohol, Gao Sipa and Eddie lost their earlier restraint. They answered all of Yan Xing's questions.
Gradually, Yan Xing began to form a general understanding of this world.
The tract of wild grassland they were on was part of the Wildwind Highlands.
South of the Wildwind Highlands lay the Human Silvermane Principality, ruled by Duke Trollop Griffin.
East of the highlands was an Inner Sea, connected to the outer ocean by a long, narrow strait.
To the west were the tribal lands of the Wildland Orcs.
To the north dwelled the communities of the Snow Elves.
The coastal terrain where the Wildwind Highlands met the Inner Sea featured a significant drop in elevation, making a convenient, direct path to the ocean almost nonexistent.
Thus, the Wildwind Highlands had become a strategic chokepoint contested by Humans, Orcs, and Elves.
Whoever controlled the Wildwind Highlands could gain a strategic geographical advantage over the other two races. Flying troops and Mages stationed there could command the heights, posing a constant threat to their enemies, like a fishbone stuck in the throat.
Precisely because of its critical strategic importance, frequent battles for control of the Wildwind Highlands had erupted among Humans, Orcs, and Elves.
These wars had led the three sides to sacrifice vast numbers of warriors, resulting in extremely high levels of animosity among them.
Currently... the vast majority of the Wildwind Highlands was under the control of the Silvermane Principality.
The Wildland Orcs and Snow Elves maintained only a few strongholds in the west and north, respectively. They were amassing significant forces and investing heavily in fortifying these positions, both to prevent the Humans from completely seizing the Wildwind Highlands and to prepare for a new war over the region.
Marquis Ram Anderson, known as the Marquis of the Storm, commanded the Human troops stationed in the Wildwind Highlands.
Departing from previous Human strategies of stockpiling resources and troops to decide wars in a few decisive battles, he instead invested his family's wealth to construct a rapid transit route connecting the Wildwind Highlands to the Human heartlands. Leveraging this route for swift supply transport, he built the first Human city on the highlands—Storm City.
Subsequently, Marquis Anderson adhered to a principle of avoiding direct combat with the Orc Race and Elf Race, even secretly instigating conflict between them.
He then quietly used Storm City as a base, concentrating strong forces to protect his supply lines while continuously expanding outward by building more Human cities, gradually encroaching upon the lands of the Wildwind Highlands.
By the time the Orcs and Elves realized the strategy Marquis Anderson was implementing, it was too late.
Marquis Anderson had created a cluster of Human cities on the southern side of the Wildwind Highlands. This new urban zone possessed its own economic, agricultural, and military training systems, significantly reducing its dependence on support from the Silvermane Principality to the rear.
In contrast, the Orcs and Elves still clung to their outdated wartime doctrines.
The unique terrain of the Wildwind Highlands, with its rugged transitional zones, made it difficult to connect smoothly with adjacent lands. This posed obstacles to constructing convenient roads and severely impeded transportation.
Consequently, their efforts to contest the Wildwind Highlands relied on consuming vast manpower and material resources from their homelands, using narrow paths or aerial transport to slowly stockpile troops and supplies at a few military strongholds on the highlands.
This process was extremely inefficient.
Neither the Orcs nor the Elves possessed the capability to wage a prolonged war against the Humans on the Wildwind Highlands. They could only watch helplessly as Marquis Ram Anderson completed his gradual conquest.
Now, the two races could only maintain military strongholds on the periphery of the highlands, necessitating a degree of cooperation merely to preserve their presence there.
Gao Sipa's knowledge of the world was limited to the Wildwind Highlands. As for the situation in other places, he neither knew nor could articulate it.
In short, the Wildwind Highlands, where Yan Xing now found himself, seemed somewhat isolated from the rest of the world, while also presenting a situation akin to a tripartite standoff.
The powerful Humans, facing Orcs and Elves who were compelled to cooperate, had brought a fragile, temporary stability to the local region.