I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 92 The Night is Silent Yet Noisy

After the land reform order was approved by Dormammu, John, who had discussed the specific implementation plan with Glenn, arranged for people to set up corresponding bulletin boards that very night and posted recruitment notices and corresponding wage amounts on them.

Aside from the textile mills and stone mills owned by Baron Micah, who has already been arrested, which expanded their recruitment, the construction teams that provided the most jobs this time were those working on the road construction project.

Due to the complex terrain of Longyan Territory, even with the scouts of the magic squad drawing a three-dimensional map from the sky, and calculating based on the principle of facilitating passage, John would still need to clear a road at least 114 kilometers long.

Including labor and material costs, at least half of his retirement savings will be used up.

But John knew this was a necessary expense, so he gritted his teeth and went ahead with the road construction project.

As for subsequent matters such as fruit tree planting, winery expansion, and the development of the liquor trade market, he no longer had the mind to think about them, or rather, he dared not think about them in detail.

Because he knew that these projects would drain his pension funds to the point that he would go blind.

This made Major John, the miser, realize that he was probably not destined to be rich in his lifetime.

"Asshole!"

The next day, early in the morning.

Inside the government hall, Major John, his heart bleeding with sorrow, watched as the crowd moved boxes of gold—rightfully his own—into the town's finance department warehouse for use as the main funding for future economic development.

Sergeant Wendy, grinning broadly, skipped over to him and then spoke to him mysteriously:

"Captain, Captain, headquarters just called to promote the ranks of our 14th squad members. Everyone in the 14th squad has been promoted one rank, even Warrant Officer Leia has been promoted one rank."

"But Wendy is different from the others, hehe, so Captain, do you want to guess what rank Wendy is now?"

"Oh, really? That's great!"

John clutched his aching chest, barely suppressing the urge to yell at everyone to stop moving the load. He turned to Sergeant Wendy, who was practically snotting from her nose, and said with a forced smile:

"Has he become a sergeant? Wow, congratulations! Congratulations!"

"Captain, you're so stupid! It's a promotion, why did you demote me?"

Wendy looked at the idiot captain speechlessly, her eyes filled with pity.

She thought the stupid captain must have been so busy yesterday that he couldn't even tell the difference between promotion and demotion.

But that's normal, after all, Captain John is human and makes mistakes too.

Moreover, he spent the whole night discussing the plan, so it's normal that his brain isn't working properly right now.

Sergeant Wendy, being intelligent and always very magnanimous, certainly wouldn't be angry with the captain over this.

After silently convincing himself, he looked at the captain, who had been studying the plan all night and whose eyes were now bloodshot and whose whole body seemed to be shrouded in an invisible black aura.

At this moment, even Wendy sensed that the current captain seemed to be in some danger.

So the clever Sergeant Wendy abandoned her plan to tease the other person and instead confidently raised her head to give the answer:
"It's a lieutenant! Wendy is now on the same rank as Lieutenant Leia, you know. How about that? Surprised? From now on, Captain, you'll have to call me Lieutenant Wendy when you see me, hehehe!"

"Oh, really? Should I give you an award then?"

He glanced at his pension money that was being constantly taken away, and then at his stupid deputy in front of him who was beaming with pride because of his three promotions.

John, devastated by the missed opportunity to receive the jade plaque, was immediately enraged. Without thinking, he grabbed the other man's fat face and said viciously:

"You idiot, if you know how to address military ranks, then why do you always call me 'Captain, Captain'? Didn't I tell you to call me Major? You moron!"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Captain, please stop pinching me! Wendy's mouth is going to be crushed! Wendy really knows she was wrong, please have mercy on me!"

Upon realizing that the captain seemed genuinely intent on punishing her severely, Lieutenant Wendy, sensing the danger, quickly begged for mercy.

However, John merely smiled coldly at her fake acting, which involved empty sobs without shedding a tear, and then continued to increase the pressure:

"You know nothing! And you call me captain? I think you're a complete bastard who never learns from his mistakes. Prepare to die!"

Just as Major John, raging in a fit of impotence over the disappearance of his pension, was giving Lieutenant Wendy, who had unwittingly run into his line of fire, a severe reprimand, Glenn, the person in charge of the Longan Territory trade route construction project, approached John with the financial inventory list. He then took a deep breath and reported with piercing eyes:
"Sir, the project funds have been tallied. Shall we proceed to the next step?"

"Is the inventory complete? Are you sure nothing was missed?"

Upon hearing this, John immediately stopped his playful fight with Wendy, ignoring Lieutenant Wendy behind him who was covering her face and staring at him with resentment. His expression turned serious as he glanced at the empty freight car.

A sense of sadness welled up inside me, but I finally sighed and added:
"This funding is very important, as it relates to whether the subsequent project can proceed smoothly. We must make sure it is confirmed."

“I checked it three times, and there really wasn’t anything missing, sir.”

"Alright, let's begin. Have the guards set off and start announcing the recruitment in each area as planned."

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Glenn seemed to be given an unprecedentedly important mission. He immediately saluted John and then, as planned, instructed everyone to carry out the recruitment and publicity work.

In the blink of an eye, the crowd that had been gathered in the courtyard, holding stacks of flyers, orderly mounted the bicycles that had been prepared beforehand, like a school of fish breaking through a fishing net, amidst the ringing of bicycle bells and the staring gazes of John and his group.

It transformed into a black torrent, rushing along the street at breakneck speed, and finally, like ink spreading, began to cover the vast town of Bahamut at a visible rate.

"Lieutenant Wendy, go and inform Hawke that the unit is temporarily suspending patrols. Tell him to call everyone except Lieutenant Leia over to maintain order at the scene later."

After these seeds, carrying the hopes of Bahamut's economic revival, were sown, John, standing still, gave Wendy these instructions.

"Yes, battalion commander."

Knowing that serious business had come up, Wendy put away her usual mischievousness and gave John a serious salute. Then, under John's gaze, she turned and ran quickly toward the location of the troops.

"Hopefully, nothing will go wrong this time."

Looking at the distant street, at the glimpses of people peeking through the cracks of rows of tightly closed doors and windows, John couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He knew in his heart that he had done the best he could. But even so, he couldn't be sure that things would actually go as smoothly as he had hoped.

After all, human nature is complex.

Even though he had glimpsed the future, he could not control it.

All he can do now is wait.

Suppressing his worries, John slowly walked to the front of the town hall and sat down behind the square table with the sign "Town Hall Job Opening".

"Tick!"

Time passed slowly amidst the silence and noise, and in the blink of an eye, it was noon.

The Tongxin Association members, who had originally gone out to promote the cause with great enthusiasm, now looked like wilted eggplants, standing behind Glenn, whose face was ashen, with their heads hanging low, not daring to make a sound.

John, sitting behind the job recruitment table, stared silently at the empty street ahead, saying nothing.

After a long silence, he sighed and turned to Glenn behind him, asking:

"Glenn, how many people have you recruited in total so far?"

"Sir, the registration form only shows 23 people so far..."

Glenn replied with a look of shame, not expecting that just last night he had said that once the recruitment information was released, their recruitment point would definitely be packed with people.

But to everyone's surprise, in the end, they couldn't even gather a hundred people.

This is undoubtedly a slap in his face.

Although he also found the result unbelievable.

Reason told him that the main reason for this discrepancy was not that his plan was flawed, but rather the residents' attitude towards the Imperial Army.

This undoubtedly implied that there was a problem with Governor John's plan to win over the people.

But after discussing with this officer all night, he already knew that the other party was not doing this for some so-called achievement, but was really looking out for the future of the residents of Longyan Territory.

Faced with such a superior, how could he bear to shift the blame onto him?

This is not the fault of the superior; it can only be said that the residents of Bahamut are too unambitious!

Commander John has already presented you with a happy life, yet these people have done something that has disappointed him so much; they are utterly foolish!
You are disappointing those who truly hope for the economic revival of Bahamut, and you are cutting off the future of Longan Territory with your own hands!

That's absolutely a capital offense!
Looking at the lonely figure of the officer, and at the group of foolish people who kept their doors tightly shut despite seeing the job postings.

At this moment, Glenn's anger began to surge.

The thought that this officer, out of disappointment, would completely abandon the town of Bahamut and lead his troops away was unbearable.

The town will live a life of oppression under the rule of the newly appointed lord, just like before.

He suddenly felt so angry that he was trembling.

At this point, he no longer cared about his initial stance.

No matter what, I must make this recruitment a complete success!

This is not only to meet the expectations of this lord, but more importantly, for the future of Longyan Territory!
Thinking of this, Glenn immediately hardened his heart, took a deep breath, and said to John:

"Sir, let's just send in the army and arrest all these people to build the road. I believe that as long as they see our sincerity, our plan will definitely gain their support..."

“You’re being too impulsive, Glenn. We’re soldiers, not bandits who kidnap people. Sending the army to arrest people for work is just absurd.”

Upon hearing this, John couldn't help but chuckle, and before his anxious economic revitalization leader could continue speaking, he raised his hand to interrupt:
"Alright, listen to me on this. Let's leave it at that. 23 people have signed up, which is quite a lot. It's getting late, so let's get people working first. We can fix as much as we can, since we'll still get paid eventually if we just wait around. This is project funding, not some kind of charity."

"...Yes, I will arrange for construction to begin immediately."

Seeing John's unyielding expression, Glenn, realizing he couldn't persuade him, could only sigh and then anxiously led the 23 people who had signed up to arrange the road repair work.

"..."

John's smile slowly faded after Glenn left.

He waved away Wendy, who wanted to comfort him, signaling her to let him have some peace and quiet. After ordering the troops guarding the area to be dismissed, he went straight to the town hall courtyard and started smoking.

Looking at the imperial flag that the soldiers had hung up sometime during the day, now shining brightly under the blazing sun, I saw...

John fell silent, staring at the page filled with glory and history.

It wasn't until nightfall, and until the construction workers returned one by one under the protection of the guards, that the work continued.

As he walked out of the town government building with unease, he saw through his magic eye that the doors of those houses in the distance remained locked, just as they had during the day.

But then, without anyone noticing, the curtains were drawn back, revealing those figures casting their gazes towards the town government building.

At that moment, a smile appeared on John's face, and his eyes became brighter than ever before.

Because at this moment, through those envious or curious gazes, he had clearly foreseen that the dawn of Longyan Territory was about to be revealed.

And he only needs to wait here quietly.

Waiting for the commotion that fills the town of Bahamut, a clamor that resounds silently throughout the night.

……

Still writing, will post when finished.

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(End of this chapter)