Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 254 Occupying Resource Territories

The fearless swordsman swept through the gold mine, killing all the frost treants and dwarven overseers who remained, and collecting the ore that had not yet been transported away.

[Curse Power Gold Coins +30000, Occupy a Medium-Level Gold Mine]

Intermediate Gold Mine (Level 2 Resource Site): Converts 2000 Spell Power Gold Coins daily; requires more miners than a basic gold mine.

Sumu did not leave any miners to work in the area. Now that the area has become a war zone and war could break out at any time, leaving them to work would be tantamount to sending them to their deaths.

Sumu distributed some bread and water, telling the miners to eat and then leave.

They were all slaves oppressed by the trading city, bound by special contracts. However, in the current situation, nothing was more important than life itself, so naturally no one would linger.

Before leaving, the miners inquired about the swordsmen's identities. When they learned that Lord Kuraki had come in person, they silently kept it in mind.

Don't underestimate these wanderers and slaves. They were originally free people from various towns and villages, but they were tricked or defrauded into becoming miners. The trading city promised them that they could regain their free status after completing certain tasks, so everyone came to take a gamble.

Now, everyone returns to their villages and spreads the word about Kuraki's deeds. Upon hearing this news, the free people, who have suffered greatly from the war, are likely to migrate to Longlit Castle or Kuraki, at which point the population of the plains will increase again.

Although this is an extraordinary world with a much larger population than the Middle Ages, there are still gathering places and remote, impoverished areas.

Compared to the megacities in the hinterland with their tens of millions of inhabitants, Langlitburg is not even worthy of carrying shoes, let alone Kuraki.

Even in the villages and towns in the hinterland, the population is extremely large.

This is why the Barrier Army's breakthrough of the North and its advance into the heartland had such a significant impact.

This flat and fertile land is so desirable that anyone who sees it will yearn for it. The lords are drooling with envy over its climate, resources, soil, and population.

In the battle for Elton, whoever conquers the heartland will be the ultimate victor—this is an eternal truth.

Now, the fortified army has entered, but the various nobles have also risen up in retaliation, and the outcome remains uncertain.

When Ouling and Sumu launched their attack, they split into two groups. The gem mine was not far from here, and he led the Mysterious Prayer to successfully occupy the resource site.

[Basic Gem Mine (Level 2 Resource Site): You control a gem mine that will provide you with 1 gem per day.]

Military forces are permitted to be stationed here.

Rare mineral resources are inherently one level higher than raw timber and stone, and are found in even smaller quantities. Even basic gemstone mines are about as rare as intermediate-level forests.

Before me lay a pristine lake, its shores piled high with colorful gems, brimming with powerful magical energy.

This is a valuable item. All heroes familiar with the castle's power know that humanity's demand for gem mines is the highest.

Even without the angels descending, you can still use gems to craft key materials and treasures to enhance the power of light magic and protection.

There used to be a gem mine in Longletburg, but you can never have too much of that kind of resource.

"How's the forest farm? Have they already sent troops to occupy it?"

"When I led my men there, the fortified troops had already withdrawn; they ran really fast."

"It seems that the fortress received the news when we made our move and ordered an evacuation, leaving only an empty resource site. Leven's reconnaissance skills are still impressive. If he hadn't disguised himself, he probably wouldn't have been able to take down even these two forces."

"Let's go check out the forest farm."

Each led a small team to the forest farm. This resource site was a bit far away, and even with the fearless swordsmen's speed, it would take them almost half a day to reach it.

Here are some occupiers of mystery, praying for the souls of the dead to rest in peace.

All the human carpenters in the area had been killed, and the logs couldn't be transported in time; they were burned in a huge fire. Although Orin managed to extinguish the fire in time, he only obtained half of the resources.

[Logs +18, Occupy a Primary Forest Farm] [Primary Forest Farm (Level 1 Resource Site): You control a forest farm, which will provide you with 2 logs per day.]

Military forces are permitted to be stationed here.

Both the gold mine and the forest yielded harvests, but the gemstone mine was completely cleared out, and its previous resources were transported away.

However, it won't have a major impact. Now that he has occupied the resource area, the stronghold will definitely take further action. Su Mu is ready to fight at any time.

As for the other resource-rich areas further away, Su Mu was not greedy. The places he occupied were quite significant in terms of ownership.

"What should we do with the remaining dwarves?"

Oling captured a group of prisoners at the gem mine. These short-legged guys couldn't escape or fight back, so they had no choice but to surrender if they didn't want to die.

"Take them to the mine and let them mine!"

As the saying goes, karma is a cycle, and retribution is inevitable. Su Mu happened to be out of miners, so he made use of these strong dwarves to mine the minerals, which was a good way to make the best use of them.

Of course, these are all minor matters. The resource-rich Sumu is not intended to occupy it for long; it is merely a buffer zone to see how the barrier responds.

If Levin leads a large army to attack, he can fight and retreat, abandoning the resource-rich areas, since it's an unexpected windfall anyway.

If the other party doesn't make a move, then he will openly occupy it.

……

Upon receiving the news, the trading city dispatched troops from Longlet Castle, repelled the fortified forces, and successfully reclaimed three resource sites.

But Su Mu seemed to have no intention of returning the resources. He not only seized the mines and produced them at a frenzied pace every day, but also took away the previous resources.

"This Sumu has no regard for the country or religion; he's practically a bandit. The parliament has already issued an order for the frontline nobles not to seize territory at will, but he's turned a deaf ear!"

This area was the territory of Maya, a merchant from the eastern part of the hinterland. She issued a serious accusation, but no one was willing to respond.

The battle is raging now, and Su Mu's willingness to attack is already a sign of loyalty. He even managed to defeat the enemy-occupied mining area, so there's really no way to criticize him.

If he wanted to explain, Su Mu could easily make excuses, saying that as soon as he withdrew, the stronghold would send troops to occupy the area, and he would temporarily use the mining area as a garrison. That would be plausible, since they were incapable of defending it.

Maya looked at the indifferent attitude of the others and said with hatred, "Don't forget what we agreed on. It was fine to sacrifice resource areas. But now you're only sacrificing my family. Isn't that going too far?"

In fact, many resource-rich areas in the heartland were occupied, but the Maya territory was closest to the north, making it an easy point of attack. In order to consolidate their defenses, the trading grounds proactively abandoned the outer resource areas and concentrated their forces to defend the most important mines.

The Chamber of Commerce should have compensated for the occupation of these resource-rich sites, and a method has already been drafted.

The problem is, now that Sumu has taken over, everyone wants to use the old methods again, to pressure the parliament to have the nobles return the lost land.

But who is Su Mu? He doesn't care about them at all. If they want resource land, fine, send troops to take it over. As long as they can withstand the raiding forces from the fortress, Su Mu is happy to have someone hold the line.

Would they dare? If they did, they wouldn't be hiding behind the scenes.

Maya looked around again, and finding no one to say a word, she stormed off in anger.

As a major merchant in the eastern part of the hinterland, she mainly represented the interests of many middle-class nobles in the hinterland. Her background was not as deep as others, so it was only natural that she was targeted.

"After all, there's already an agreement. Let's make up for some of the deficit with Maya and let her wait and see!"

Robert, the chief businessman in this round, spoke up, and the others nodded in agreement, as it was important to maintain internal unity.

(End of this chapter)