This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

The female doctor was off duty today, and Dick wanted her to rest a little longer.

Although he never disliked this naturally naive female doctor, when he first saw her and recognized her identity after being summoned, Dick did experience some disappointment because it was "not as expected".

But this winter, Shizuka Marikawa has proven with her true talent that she is by no means a pretty but useless vase.

While Natasha was in charge of researching cold-related illnesses, Shizuka Marikawa took over the formalization process of the clinic.

She established the clinic's modern rules and regulations.

She personally trained several batches of medical staff.

She personally treated and cured many patients with common illnesses.

Therefore, within the clinic alone, most medical staff respect Shizuka Marikawa more, and will proactively address her as "Ms. Marikawa" or "Chief Medical Officer" when they meet.

Dick saw all of this and felt a sincere regret for his initial disdain.

He dressed himself and then quietly left the room.

Because it was a weekend, Dick had specifically told Rita and Belfast the night before that he might sleep in a little, and that they could just leave his change of clothes by the door and not wake him up.

So actually, it was almost noon by then, and Dick hadn't gotten up early at all.

As Dick passed through the castle corridor, he stood by the window and looked out. He could see the prisoner camp in the distance, which was just beginning to take shape. The captured bandits were building their own barracks under the supervision of the guards.

Sharp-eyed Dick noticed something hanging on a rack on the east side of the camp. He cast an Eagle Eye spell on himself and immediately saw that it was five prisoners hanging by their hands, not their necks, so all five were still alive and being whipped mercilessly.

Seeing this, Dick wasn't surprised or taken aback, since he had given prior instructions.

On the very first day the prisoners were brought back, Dick publicly announced the plan of treatment for them.

With most of the bandit leaders and minor officials already executed, these bandit henchmen, as accomplices, would not be executed but would be required to undergo labor reform.

The Governor's Office will make the fairest possible judgment in the later trials, sentencing individuals to a minimum of ten years and a maximum of thirty years!

Many prisoners breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that they wouldn't die, but some looked ashen-faced, feeling that they had become slaves, only now with the title of "labor reform prisoners," and were destined to work until they died.

But Dick then stated that his collective farm had a clear system of rewards and punishments. Those inmates who genuinely repented and worked hard would receive reduced sentences, and starting from the fifth year, there would be a batch of pardons each year. However, if someone was dishonest, cheated, or tried to escape, he also had a complete set of regulations regarding how to increase their sentences and impose penalties.

Sentence reduction and pardon, sentence increase and punishment.

Dick pulled out both the carrot and the stick, and the prisoners below the stage reacted with a variety of expressions.

Dick had previously held a meeting to discuss how to deal with the captured bandits.

Some officers felt that these bandits had committed countless evil deeds and were not worthy of any sympathy. They should all be reduced to slaves and thrown into the mines to work until they died!

For those who had a blood feud with the bandits, it was suggested that they all be killed and a mound of corpses built to intimidate the surrounding area.

But Dick felt that such a simplistic and brutal approach would not fully utilize the remaining value of these thousands of prisoners and would easily lead to security risks. They could use a more effective method.

As for killing them all... that's a bit too extreme.

First, it is essential to establish clear prison terms and commutation systems so that these inmates feel they have a future and hope to persevere, thus preventing them from becoming disorganized or attempting to escape.

However, it's certain that this alone won't be enough to make the inmates work honestly. In the initial stages, there will inevitably be "destabilizing elements" who want to escape or even incite riots. Those who actively seek to be role models should not be treated leniently; they must be severely punished to create a deterrent effect.

I, Laguge, do not tolerate idlers. I do not kill because it is unnecessary, not because I dare not!

Outside the castle, a group of idle commoners were also watching.

Among the onlookers, several pairs of eyes were also watching. After pausing to observe for a moment, they left the scene one after another, quietly heading west...

"Boss! We saw it with our own eyes! All those guys in the east are finished. Several of them who did business with us before have their heads hanging off."

"A lot of people have been arrested, there must be several thousand (exaggeration)!"

In the western mountains of Lagug, Blood Wolf Gang leader Woruf listened to his scouts' reports, his expression growing increasingly grave, while the expressions of his underlings also shifted between light and shadow.

"Damn it, they're serious now!"

One of the leaders muttered to himself that they had received a lot of bad news in the past month or two.

At the beginning of the year, I was shocked to hear that the Vulture Gang had been completely wiped out.

Those were over three hundred ruthless bandits, guarding the treacherous Ghost Cry Peak, yet they were wiped out without a trace. Adding to that, heavy snow blocked the mountain pass at that time, so by the time they received word of the Vulture Gang's annihilation, it was already more than half a month later.

At the time, the Blood Wolf Gang was excited for a while. The two gangs had clashed more than once over territory, and the Blood Wolf Gang was slightly weaker than the other side, so they were always the ones who suffered defeat.

So when they learned that their arch-enemy had been wiped out, they naturally laughed out loud in a "sad" way.

But after the initial excitement, as the Blood Wolf Gang leader's henchmen continued to gather intelligence, everyone quickly lost their initial enthusiasm and instead felt fear.

The destruction of the Vulture Gang was just too damn weird!

Their men had gone to Ghost Cry Peak to investigate. The earthen fortress on the front of the stronghold was intact, with no trace of battle left by the siege. The situation inside the cave was similar.

The Vulture Gang, consisting of over three hundred members, was seemingly taken down without any resistance!

This discovery truly shocked the Blood Wolf Gang members, and their leader, Woruf, immediately abandoned his plan to take over Ghost Cry Peak.

Because his intuition told him that it might be a trap.

In fact, Volof's intuition was correct.

After inspecting the cave terrain of Ghost Cry Peak, Dick thought it was indeed a good place, and he wished that the other two large bandit gangs in the western mountains could also move here.

This cave is quite large; you can take a couple of breaths of the poisonous gas and then fall asleep.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the other two major bandit gangs were also very cautious and did not fall for the trick.

The mysterious demise of the Vulture Gang served as a wake-up call for the other two gangs.

As intelligence gathered, they quickly confirmed that it was likely the new governor who led the operation. Although the other side claimed to have only wiped out some low-level bandits, they knew perfectly well whether the unfortunate souls sent to the mines were bandits or members of the Vulture Gang.

This discovery caused the two gangs to immediately abandon their previous underestimation of them.

You should know that at the beginning of the year, the town merchants who were secretly colluding with them sent someone to deliver intelligence, saying that the new governor intended to send troops into the mountains to suppress bandits at the end of spring.

At that time, they didn't know that the Vulture Gang was finished. They were all laughing at the new governor, who was supposedly still a child, for overestimating himself and probably trying to use their fame to make money under some pretext.

Then came the slap in the face.

The governor's private army indeed had no intention of suppressing bandits in late spring. These regular troops, who did not know martial ethics, took action before spring even arrived!

According to the intelligence brought back by my underlings, the bandits in the eastern forest area of ​​Laguge have been basically wiped out by the enemy, and the speed of their actions is frightening, taking only five days in total!

Those were dozens of bandit gangs, nearly two thousand people, scattered across thousands of square kilometers of forest.

But those private soldiers seemed to know where they were hiding beforehand, and they went in and arrested them.

This shows that the governor had done thorough intelligence gathering beforehand, he knew exactly where these bandits were hiding, and he chose the right time to strike.

Voluf pondered for a moment, then frowned and spoke.

"It seems that our partner has already sided with the new governor. The news of the bandit suppression at the end of spring is most likely false intelligence sent to us to lull us into a false sense of security."

"Damn it! I knew these crooked businessmen couldn't be trusted!"

After their leader's words of advice, the bandits immediately became "alert." They remembered the intelligence the merchant had sent at the beginning of the year and concluded that the other party must have betrayed them.

Little did they know that they had wronged the bad guys; those unscrupulous merchants were really no good!

Voluf was unaware of the new governor's specific plans for suppressing bandits, but he didn't think the other side would let him go. This young master of the duke's family was different from the previous governors, and he had to prepare early.

"Boss, should we... make contact with the people in the south..."

"No way! Few of those lunatics are mentally sound. Rather than joining forces with them, we should head north and seek refuge with those 'water monkeys' who trade at sea. This suggestion is not good."

Upon hearing his subordinate mention the words "southern," Voluf waved his hand repeatedly, telling the other man to stop.

The so-called "southern ones" refer to the "Deer Head Gang," the third largest bandit group in the western mountainous region.

Unlike ordinary bandits like Vulture and Blood Wolf who only wanted to rob and plunder for "legitimate business," the Deer Head Gang was a violent group with cult-like characteristics, belonging to a semi-cult, semi-bandit gang.

Their leader, Karem, was a half-orc. His father was said to be a high shaman from an orc tribe in the snowy region further north of the continent. All the gang members worshipped an evil spirit known as the "Deer-Headed God."

While the Deer Head Gang occasionally raids the mountains, they actually prefer to proselytize in the savage villages nestled in the mountains, expanding their following. They had previously made contact with the Blood Wolf Gang, but Voluf harbored a strong aversion to such abnormal evil gods and therefore avoided this group of madmen.

Just then, one of the underlings suddenly remembered something and excitedly came up to Voluf and said...

"Boss, why don't we strike first and take advantage of the situation!"

"what!?"

"Strike first! Let's send an assassin to take care of this governor, won't that solve the problem?"

As he spoke, the younger brother animatedly made a throat-slitting gesture.

After pondering for a moment, Voluf suddenly realized that this idea actually seemed feasible!

Although killing the governor would easily provoke the lord's wrath, and he had heard that the new governor was the duke's son, as long as he could shift the blame to someone else, this diversion of trouble might be a win-win situation.

The more Voluf thought about it, the better he felt it was, so he slapped the underling on the shoulder and said.

"Good lad, that's a good idea."

"Thank you for the compliment, Boss!"

"Then I'll leave this matter to you."

"..."

As soon as Voluf finished speaking, the smile on his younger brother's face visibly froze.

Seeing his expression, Voluf couldn't help but roll his eyes.

On the one hand, he despised his underling's bluster and cowardice; he talked a big game but failed miserably when it came to action. On the other hand, he had no expectations of the group's intelligence; he had actually thought they were smart just now.

"Idiot! What are you thinking? Don't I know what you're capable of? When I said I was entrusting this to you, I meant I wanted you to find a suitable assassin, not to kill the governor!"

"Huh? Didn't you say I was supposed to go?"

Seeing his underling looking dazed, Voluf, whose good mood had been ruined, slapped him and made him stand aside. He didn't mention the task he was going to give him and instead looked at the others present.

At this moment, a low-level leader who had been silent all along stepped forward.

"Boss! Leave this to me."

"Do you know anyone who's good at this?"

"I'm an expert at this!"

Chapter 040: If You Will Not Abandon Me...

In Laguge town, because this winter was not very cold and showed signs of ending earlier than usual, residents are starting to get back to normal life sooner. The town is bustling with people day by day, as residents from surrounding towns flock to town to shop and prepare for the upcoming spring planting.

Before winter last year, the then newly appointed governor dismissed tens of thousands of miners and gave them a year's wages as compensation and severance pay for the previous governor's withholding.

Most of these laid-off workers have returned to farming, and they happen to have this sum of cash on hand as start-up capital for spring planting.

Many small villages with small populations could not afford to support blacksmiths or carpenters. In addition, during the David era, the forced labor of men to mine led to the abandonment of large amounts of land. Many returning farmers did not even have suitable farming tools, let alone seeds for spring planting.

It was winter, and the liaisons traveling to various places promoted to them many things about the "Agricultural and Livestock Cooperative Association" that the governor had spearheaded.

At first, no one understood what this "guild" was.

Does this mean that in the future, farmers will have to register an identity card and then accept a mission from a guild before they can farm, just like mercenaries?

However, everyone soon learned the key point that interested them: the guild would sell cheap and easy-to-use farming tools and high-quality seeds, and would even introduce some new, more profitable crops. Therefore, even if the farmers still had doubts, they would come over with a "let's take a look first" attitude.

After all, the new governor's reputation is far better than that of the previous nobles since he took office!

Then these farmers who came to the city for the market discovered that this guild was something else!

Here you'll find sturdy and durable iron farm tools, high-quality grains with plump kernels, and poultry like chickens and ducks suitable for small-scale farming families, all at acceptable prices.

In addition, there are many new farming tools that locals have never seen before. The association not only sells them, but also provides free training to teach you how to use these novel gadgets.

But what puzzled and amazed the farmers the most was that this guild actually allowed members to register, had a rating system very similar to that of mercenaries, and had job classifications and four membership levels.

However, most people just look and have no intention of registering.

Besides the farmers, local businessmen were also paying attention to the newly established farmers' association. Many were pessimistic about the prospects of this new organization, and some even harbored ill intentions, hoping to see the governor botch it.

Those who had this idea were mainly local grain merchants and agricultural implement merchants, because in their view, the establishment of this farmers' association was a real "infringement" on their interests.