Tauren Overlord

Looking at Lu Heng's tense back, Leia could no longer forgive herself for being like this.

If Lu Heng imprisoned her, whipped her... or even... treated her more harshly because of her poor performance, she would feel better.

When Leia thought about being punished by her master, her face turned red.

She stroked her huge breasts with her small hands and prayed to Lu Heng:

"Master, please punish me!"

Lu Heng was stunned. Oh my god, why did you suddenly make such a strange request?

Do you want to punish or reward?

Lu Heng felt that he would not be able to hold it any longer if he continued like this, so he continued to turn his back to her and said in a deep voice:

"We'll talk about the punishment tonight. Take her to the coffin first. We have an important meeting this afternoon."

……

In the afternoon, Lu Heng summoned "all the people in the territory" to the meeting hall, and "Sword Knight" Leia told the participants about the attack on the lord's wife.

However, in an empire with a strict hierarchy, "all the subjects" generally refers to the small but powerful class of knights among the subjects.

If hundreds of serfs who are actually unable to make any decisions were asked to put down their work and come here to listen to the meeting, it would be just a formality.

Currently, most of these participants are businessmen who are deeply involved in the economic development of the territory.

This does not contradict the fact that military nobles emerged in large numbers among the knight class, because each generation of a large family usually does not have only one child.

They could have some family members establish military merits, while others became landowners, big businessmen or well-trained doctors.

Therefore, what Lu Heng really had to deal with was mainly his relationship with these upper-class people.

After all, it is impossible for him to create a society where he has the absolute final say and others are only worthy of being slaves. Such a society cannot function.

If one only considers one's own interests, then even if the oppressed cannot directly rise up in rebellion, they can at least passively resist by dawdling.

This has nothing to do with whether the territory is nominally ruled by a lord or under some other name.

As for how to distribute the benefits specifically and jointly complete the actual governance, that is a very complicated matter.

At this moment, Lu Heng was holding the "Adventurer's Supply Purchasing List" made by Rosa in his hand and began to have friendly exchanges with bigwigs from all walks of life.

"As you can see, the evil minotaurs are pushing us to the brink of life and death."

"But we are not without hope of fighting back. As long as we can attract more adventurers to hunt, there will always be a real hero who can kill him!"

"In order to better deal with the threat of the minotaurs, I will officially become the acting lord of the Mountain Territory before my father returns, and survive here with everyone else."

"I hope that everyone can see more long-term benefits during this extremely difficult time and use their warmth to bring more light to others."

"Especially the important supplies in the following list, which are our hope for survival, please give more reasonable prices during this critical period..."

Lu Heng had been speaking quite politely, but the bigwigs present at the meeting were not fools. They knew that Lu Heng wanted them to make concessions.

The largest spiritual material supplier in Qun Shan Ling took the lead in opposing the proposal:

"My respected acting lord, your proposal is indeed very interesting, but I also have a reminder that our family's business is not limited to the mountains."

"If my other brothers, or even just other colleagues, knew that I had suddenly started a price war, what would they think?"

In fact, Lu Heng also knew that no matter how much he said, he would still encounter opposition. He added:

"I understand your situation. Businessmen need to make money. It's not shameful."

"But in this critical moment, I suggest you lower the price so that you can attract more adventurers to solve our crisis."

"Even if you continue to maintain the current high price, I'm afraid it will be difficult to maintain huge profits because the minotaurs will continue to attack us, including your caravan."

"By then, your freight transportation costs will be out of control for a long time, and the losses caused are likely to be greater than the short-term price reduction."

"On the other hand, asking you to lower your prices is not asking for your money, it is also considering your business."

"As for the extent of the price reduction, I don't mean that you will lose your business. You can retain a certain profit margin, but there must be a limit..."

In order to attract more adventurers to come to the mountain territory, a place favored by the poor, to take on missions, the biggest competitive advantage Lu Heng could think of was relatively low prices.

Otherwise, what else could he do? He couldn't possibly compete with a real imperial metropolis in terms of the richness of its psychic items, could he?

Of course, if he didn't want to pay the money himself, he would have to ask the big merchants in Qunshan Territory to suffer.

infamy?

Isn't it because the Tauren Lord is too oppressive that the Mountain Territory is in such a predicament?

So, let him bear the blame.

However, the spiritual material supplier still refused to give in, because his industry was the target of Lu Heng's price reduction.

He couldn't help asking:

"If you insist on suggesting this, I'm worried that some merchants will go to other places to do business."

"After all, merchants are not serfs. Even in the Mountain Territory, there are many families doing business in several places. It is common for them to seek refuge with each other."

Lu Heng was not afraid of this question at all. What he said next sounded more like a threat than a concern:

"The evil minotaurs have set up numerous ambushes in our territory. Are you really not afraid of any accidents if you leave now?"

Lu Heng's nonchalant tone made it seem as if the sinister minotaur was under his command and could attack wherever he pointed.

At the same time, the other big guys felt emotional when they saw Lu Heng, who looked just over 16 years old but was extremely calm and composed.

This acting lord is so young, but he already shows the aura of a young eagle. When he truly becomes the lord, he will surely surpass his father by far, right?

In terms of profits, except for industries such as spiritual materials that are highly related to adventurers, Lu Heng did not require other industries to significantly reduce prices.

In this case, this group of shrewd old foxes did not cause any trouble and basically followed the spirit of Lu Heng's mobilization meeting.

After the meeting, Lu Heng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But when he looked around, he saw another girl who was eager for punishment.

And she was also staring at him with a shy look.

13. The Long Night of the Female Knight

On this moonlit night, Leia was finally locked up in a small dark room by Lu Heng as she wished.

Although the small room where she was "imprisoned" was much warmer and more elegant than she had imagined.

This was not a simple prison, the entire room was covered with wooden floors that had just been cleaned by the maid.

There was also a large, soft bed in the room, which did not look like a punishment for a prisoner.

There is also a bronze hanging lamp that can give Leia a soft and warm light on this lonely night.

It couldn't even be called "detention". Although Lu Heng agreed to let her go to the small dark room to do a secret mission, he didn't lock it...

It even made Leia a little dazed. She didn't know whether her master was going to punish her or... reward her?

Oh, this really bothers my sister. Let’s get to work early.

Leia took out the light blue crystal that Lu Heng had placed in her palm.

Although...it doesn't look like some kind of prop used to punish my sister, right?

This is actually the creation of the silver-haired maid Rosa.

In the past, Rosa didn't dare let the lord's wife find out that she had awakened her exclusive talent.

So after she successfully summoned the psychic crystal, she would always put it back into the place where her psychic energy intersected.

After going in and out for more than a month, the spiritual energy of the crystal was unconsciously filled to its full potential.

But this crystal filled with psychic energy is limited to the first one.

When Rosa summoned the second crystal, the spiritual energy inside was empty, just like the first one at the beginning.

This requires finding a spellcaster to charge it.

After Lu Heng learned about Rosa's situation, he immediately handed the second crystal to Leia.

Leia also received a task from her master: to fill this empty crystal well tonight.

In fact, Lu Heng also found it difficult to deal with a spellcaster like Leia.

If we don't punish him, it seems like reward and punishment are unclear.

I want to punish her, but I'm afraid of pushing her too far, so I have to find a suitable way to deal with it.

Although Lu Heng was not completely worried about Leia's loyalty, after all, her loyalty to him had a solid economic basis.

As a first-level spellcaster, Leia has higher requirements for the psychic energy reserves in food.

As spellcasters' levels continue to rise, their thirst for psychic energy will only grow higher.

Just like people need to eat, if the replenishment of spiritual energy is lost, the caster will be temporarily unable to use spiritual energy.

Long-term depletion of spiritual energy will make them mentally depressed, to the point where their combat effectiveness is so low that they are even inferior to serf soldiers like the "Pitchfork Warriors".

Therefore, in actual wars, it is often not a simple game where you send out a group of soldiers on this side and a group of soldiers on that side, and then everyone fights in one wave and the battle is over.

How to ensure one's own psychic supply while cutting off the enemy's supply lines as much as possible is the key to the battle.

After all, when the strength is similar, if one side's spellcasters are unable to exert their combat power due to supply cut-off, then there is basically no chance of fighting.

However, whether in war or peacetime, this kind of food rich in spiritual energy often has a relatively high cost.

This means that ordinary poor people cannot afford it.

So, who has a relatively stable source of income that can provide food rich in spiritual energy over a long period of time?

Of course, it is the lord who has power, land, and soldiers, and can even forcibly requisition surplus grain when necessary.

Although the Adventurer's Guild occasionally offers well-paid missions, that kind of employment is too flexible and is far less stable than serving a lord.

Therefore, if given a choice, spellcasters in the empire generally prefer to serve as affairs officers under the lord.

But then again, the lord cannot consume the loyalty of the affairs officer without restraint.

After all, there is not just one lord. There are a lot of lords, big and small, throughout the empire.

Once a lord is too harsh on an officer, the officer may defect to another lord or simply become an adventurer.

Therefore, Lu Heng planned to trust a knight like Leia and put his trust in her.

In the small dark room, Leia also began to work loyally.

She exerted her strength lovingly, injecting the spiritual energy in her body into Rosa's crystal.

As soon as the crystal passed across Leia's tall and delicate body, she immediately had a strong reaction.

The slight splash of spiritual energy quickly created extremely transparent ripples.

The intersection of Rhea's psychic energy and Rosa's crystal was tightly connected, which made her gasp for breath, like an ice cream that was about to melt.

"Mmm... It's so hot..."

It was really strange. Even though she was the one being exploited, Leia unexpectedly felt a little intoxicated.

It was the first time for her to use her body in this way, but the feeling of her spiritual energy being drained was extremely clear.

She kept teasing the point where her spiritual energies converged, and what followed was her rapid breathing and her delicate body that couldn't stop trembling.

The rampant surging spiritual energy seemed to bring her a kind of surging pleasure like a tide, making her so excited that even her toes curled.

As if she was gradually getting used to this rhythm, Leia couldn't help but increase her strength.

With her continued efforts, the surging ocean of spiritual energy in her body... has already sprayed out a lot!

Leia collapsed weakly on the bed, but she did not feel empty or lonely. Instead, she felt warm.

For a moment, sleepiness swept over her whole body, making Leia feel like she wanted to just sleep peacefully.

But she changed her mind and felt that she couldn't let herself go like this.

Obviously I can still produce more spiritual energy, at least I can do it again, but no... Sister has to keep circulating until I can't bear it anymore!

This kind of thing cannot be so careless, you must work hard to do the best for your master!

After all, this is... the master's mission!

So Leia, you have to be harder on yourself!