This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

It should be noted that the farmers' association was a semi-official organization, backed by the governor's office. Dick even directly transferred the annual land tax collection work from the private army to the farmers' association.

Yes! Before this, the tax collection work after the autumn harvest was carried out by the Governor-General's private army. The Governor-General would temporarily appoint a tax collection commissioner to lead the army to the countryside to collect grain. The scene was not much different from the Japanese army sweeping through the countryside.

The reason why the tax commissioner needs to be appointed by the governor on a temporary basis each year, rather than setting up a corresponding official position and assigning a dedicated person to be in charge long-term, is mainly because it is a very lucrative post. If the lord or governor is not personally in charge, then his subordinates should be allowed to take turns going down there to "enjoy themselves," otherwise it would be detrimental to "unity."

The result is that every commissioner tries to make the most of this rare opportunity to make a fortune, and they all rush to do whatever it takes to be a decent human being.

But Dick was different from the previous governors. He genuinely considered Lagug his own territory and wanted to govern and develop it properly, so he naturally wouldn't follow such old precedents.

His establishment of the farmers' association and the liaison system, which is being transformed into a post office, were both aimed at strengthening the Governor's Office's grassroots management capabilities over the local villages.

Since the farmers' association collected taxes on behalf of the governor's office, it naturally had priority in grain procurement.

This is a privilege specifically set up by the lord of the fiefdom to ensure his own interests. Before the lord completes the collection of taxes from the peasants, no grain merchant in the territory may purchase grain. Even if they have money, they must wait.

Dick used this legitimate privilege to allow the farmers' association to preemptively purchase surplus grain from farmers and ranchers at the "guideline price" provided by the governor's office, while collecting taxes.

This guideline price is set with reference to the grain prices in various parts of the empire, and is adjusted annually according to grain price fluctuations to ensure that low grain prices do not harm farmers, while keeping most of the surplus grain in the hands of the governor's office, which can also be used to stabilize local grain prices.

With the establishment of farmers' associations, it's practically impossible for grain merchants to continue their "buy low, sell high" strategy, unless they own their own farms and play that game against themselves.

Farm tool merchants are the same. Farmers aren't fools; after seeing the tools sold at the farmers' association, they naturally have a reference point and more choices. If you, as a farm tool merchant, want to sell your goods at a higher price than the farmers' association, you have to focus on quality. If your quality can't compete, you have to obediently lower your price.

Dick wasn't trying to deny these merchants a way to make a living, but rather he wanted them to avoid going too far in their business dealings. However, for many merchants, earning less was a loss, so they harbored resentment towards Dick but dared not speak out.

However, some businessmen wisely chose to side with Dick, not only because they feared the power represented by the Governor's House, but also because they saw real business opportunities.

These merchants discovered that with the presence of regulated tax officials, significantly increased guidance prices, and supportive land reclamation policies from the governor's office, the income of ordinary people in Laguge would certainly increase significantly, provided there were no natural or man-made disasters in the coming years, along with an increase in their purchasing power.

While the imperial capital boasts unparalleled purchasing power across the entire empire—nowhere else has its wealthy elites as rich as those in the capital—the capital is also a complex and murky place. Many businessmen don't lack the desire to do business in the capital, but rather the resources and connections they possess.

Therefore, if Lagog could truly prosper under Dick's rule, many merchants would be happy to see it happen, even if they didn't fully support the new governor with his tough methods.

Meanwhile, at the Governor's Palace, Dick was receiving a very special "visitor".

The other party arrived at the castle gate last night, wearing a cloak and acting mysteriously, saying that he had important business to discuss with the governor in secret.

But coincidentally, Dick wasn't in town yesterday; he had gone out to visit his senior master who was practicing in the mountains. So, Tia, who was left behind, had someone "invite" this mysterious guest into the castle first, and received him as the governor's confidential secretary. For security reasons, White (White Gun) volunteered to be her bodyguard.

However, when Tia asked her questions, she insisted on waiting until she met the governor in person before speaking.

Through his eyes, Tia saw greed and cunning, but no murderous intent. Moreover, his strength was not great. So she arranged for him to stay in a small private room in the castle for the time being, and then arranged for him to have an audience with the governor the next day.

When Dick returned at noon and heard that a guy who didn't look like a good person wanted to see him, he only thought for a moment before he vaguely guessed who the guy was.

"You...you're from the mountains to the west, aren't you?"

Upon meeting, Dick only asked a tentative question, but he saw a look of shock on the other person's face that was tantamount to acquiescence.

“You don’t look like someone who farms. You’re someone who’s trained… a member of the Blood Wolf Gang, right? Those heretics from the Deer Head Gang don’t have your kind of aura.”

"I have the utmost respect for the Governor's discernment! I am indeed a member of the Blood Wolf Gang."

"Speak, what brings you here?"

"I... wish to abandon darkness and embrace the light!"

Oh! How much do you want?

Upon hearing "abandon darkness for light," Dick knew that the person in front of him must be a traitor who wanted to sell his boss for a good price, so he didn't bother with any more words and directly asked the other party how much he wanted.

The traitor was also taken aback by the governor's directness and generosity in spending money, leaving him somewhat bewildered.

So, subconsciously, he forgot to haggle and directly stated his expected price.

"Five, five hundred!"

“No problem, I’ll give you five hundred as a deposit, and another five hundred after it’s done. But let’s get straight to the point: I don’t trust you, so I won’t use you. You help me break through the Blood Wolf Gang, I’ll forgive your sins, and you can leave Lagug. One thousand gold coins, enough for you to live a carefree life for the rest of your days, how about it?”

"Okay, it's a deal."

Dick gave him a thousand gold coins without hesitation, and even drafted the pardon document on his behalf.

Dick could tell that the man in front of him was probably a minor leader in the Blood Wolf Gang, but unless he was a wanted criminal with his head on a warrant, Dick didn't even need to ask the Duke for permission to pardon such a person.

Moreover, a thousand gold coins may sound like a lot, but if it can help him take down the Blood Wolf Gang more easily, then it's worth the money.

The traitor was also very excited, secretly praising himself for making the right move.

When he learned of the Vulture Gang's destruction, he had already conceived the idea of ​​becoming a traitor. A few days ago, he arrogantly accepted the mission to assassinate the governor in the mountain stronghold's hall, and even boasted to the boss, Voluf, that he was "an expert in this field," all in order to take the opportunity to go down the mountain and into the city.

As a result, Voluf was actually fooled by him, thinking that he had misjudged the situation.

Because Voluf had heard some rumors about assassins, saying that truly skilled assassins would deliberately not practice martial arts in order to better conceal themselves.

Before becoming a bandit, the traitor had worked as a conman for a period of time, so he did have some acting skills and portrayed the confidence and composure of a top-notch master.

Then this guy entered the city, first found an opportunity to kill the bandit brothers who came with him, and then went directly to the governor's mansion to "turn himself in".

The author says:

Author's note: I woke up late, and my head hurts.

Chapter 041: Beginner-Level Siege Tutorial

To be honest, if it was just about taking down the Blood Wolf Gang, Dick didn't really need this traitor.

The ninja group's reconnaissance work was already very thorough. They had a clear understanding of the Blood Wolf Gang's stronghold location and the deployment of their outer outposts. Dick was very confident in his private army.

But the traitor did bring two very useful pieces of information.

First, there is a secret passage leading directly into the mountain stronghold.

Secondly, the bandit leader Voluf had close ties with the pirate groups in the north, especially the Sea Tiger Gang, and Voluf and their second-in-command were cousins.

Meanwhile, in the Blood Wolf Gang's stronghold, bandit leader Woruf was still waiting for news.

After the assassins left, Voluf, who had calmed down somewhat, felt uneasy, so he sent a second group of his men into the city to gather information.

A few days later, the second group of henchmen brought back shocking news: the new governor was suspected of being assassinated!

Three nights ago, many people in the town heard a loud bang coming from the castle and saw flashing lights and a towering column of smoke reflected in the firelight. The next day, the castle was placed under martial law. The private soldiers who were on leave in the town were urgently recalled to their barracks, and even the militia was mobilized to block all the town's entrances and strictly check all passersby.

Rumors soon began to circulate in the town that assassins had broken into the castle to kill the governor. Although the two assassins were killed on the spot, the governor was seriously wounded. The doctors at the clinic were at a loss and could only urgently send someone to the interior to fetch a priest.

The cavalry that rushed out of the city a couple of days ago was specifically there to do this.

The two henchmen in the second group, having heard these rumors so vividly, were already half-believing them. Then, without a sound, two more corpses appeared on the rack at the town gate. One was charred beyond recognition, the other was someone they knew.

It was the same brother that Voluf had sent to assist the assassin.

And so, the two underlings, who were now almost completely convinced, hurriedly left the city and rushed back to the mountain stronghold to report this momentous "good news" to their leader.

"It worked? Really!"

Upon hearing that the governor was on the verge of death, Voluf felt regretful that the man hadn't died on the spot, but he also felt that even if the kid didn't die, he would definitely be scared after this wave.

As for the two assassins who were killed in the accident, Voluf felt no sadness or regret for their sacrifice. In fact, he thought it was better this way. Otherwise, when the guy returned, he would definitely have to reward and promote him handsomely to maintain his authority. Voluf was reluctant to part with his money and was even more worried that the guy might threaten his rule in the Blood Wolves in the future.

So it's better that he died; his death along with the governor was the perfect ending he would have liked to see!

However, just as Woruf was preparing to pop in some champagne to celebrate, he was unaware that Governor Dick, who was rumored to be on his deathbed, was already sneaking in through the "back ditch" of his hideout.

Information fraud is also part of the tactics. Don't blame me for having a heart attack; it's just that you don't know how to play the game!

Inside the dark and cramped tunnel, Dick walked at the front of the group, holding a staff that casts a light spell, while the traitor followed closely beside him.

To be honest, when we first left the city, the traitor thought the young governor was there to oversee the battle. But when we reached the entrance to the tunnel, the governor went in with the team without saying a word and even dragged him along.

The traitor was initially reluctant, thinking he only needed to lead the person to the entrance to earn the thousand gold coins, but to his surprise, Dick wanted him to follow for a while longer. His reason was, what if there were forks in the path inside the cave? As the guide, it wouldn't be appropriate for him not to come along, would it?

So the traitor was led into the tunnel, shoulder to shoulder with the governor. He could clearly feel that many eyes were staring intently at him, and that if he made any rash move, he could be pierced by a thousand arrows.

Fortunately, the journey was relatively safe, with only a few traps and mechanisms discovered, and even those were not activated.

According to the traitor, this secret tunnel was Voluf's escape route, which he could use to flee the stronghold once it was breached. The traps set inside were to delay the pursuers, and the tripwires would only be attached when he was about to escape.

The tunnel's exit was located by the river. Voluf had prepared a small boat for himself, which could be taken downstream to a fjord. He was probably planning to travel by water to seek refuge with his cousin who was a pirate.

It's a pity he never got to use that escape tunnel.

Soon, the elite troops led by Dick arrived at the end of the tunnel, where a closed, hidden door stood before them.

Without damaging the door, it cannot be opened from their side.

Having arrived at the designated location, Dick pulled an expensive magical pocket watch from his pocket. He didn't originally own this; it was a gift from a wealthy businessman at an annual party.

During the bandit suppression operation at the end of winter, they seized another one from a bandit hideout in the eastern forest area. Thus, these two magical pocket watches became tactical tools for the two teams to keep track of time when they split up for combat.

With about fifteen minutes to go before the start of the battle, Dick told everyone to rest for a while and make final preparations for the upcoming assault.

According to the plan, the assault troops and the main force on the outskirts of the stronghold will launch an attack simultaneously, giving the Blood Wolf Gang a taste of being sandwiched between two forces.

Furthermore, according to intelligence provided by the traitor, there are also hostages within the Blood Wolf Gang's stronghold, and quite a few at that, numbering three to four hundred, many of whom are teenagers. These scoundrels have close ties with the pirates to the north, and they are colluding in the despicable slave trade.

Most of these hostages were local mountain people, but their origins were complicated. Some were captured from the foot of the mountain, some were abducted from wild villages, and some were even "bought" by bandits.

Most of the villagers in Yemin Village were poor people who had fled into the mountains to escape exorbitant taxes. Although some of them chose to attach themselves to bandits, others could be won over.

The origins of these hostages held by the bandits served as a useful reference for Dick to identify the composition of these savage villages.

Soon, it will be time to make our move!

Dick placed his hand on the stone door and silently chanted an incantation to use the Weathering spell, an earth magic that could turn solid rock into loose sand. However, when using the spell, the mage needed to maintain contact with the target to more efficiently infuse magic into the rock.

This magic was developed by mages during ancient warfare to deal with city walls, but these mages soon discovered that getting close to the enemy's city walls alive was much more difficult than the magic itself.

But now that we're infiltrating, this tactic really comes in handy.

The heavy stone door shattered into a pile of rubble in no time.

"Soldiers, follow me!"

As soon as the door opened, Dick raised his arm and gave a low shout, but the one who rushed in first was Joel, who moved with lightning speed.

Joel did not participate in the previous anti-bandit operation in the eastern forest area. Instead, he stayed at the castle to assist Tia with paperwork. The large amount of paperwork made her somewhat irritable, so she volunteered for this operation, which was partly to find an opportunity to vent her frustration.

Inside the stronghold, Voluf summoned his men and announced some "tragic news": their sworn brother, who had volunteered to assassinate the governor, had unfortunately died after successfully carrying out the mission.

In front of everyone, Voluf mourned his "good brother" with tears streaming down his face. After he finished speaking, he didn't forget to have someone bring out some wine and raised his glass to toast his good brother.

Then everyone saw a beautiful, stunningly beautiful woman with a fantastic figure kick open the door to the boss's bedroom and rush out.

Seeing the group of bad guys gathered together, Joel paused for a moment.

The Blood Wolf Gang members who saw her were equally dumbfounded.

Voluf was baffled as to why the strange woman had come out of his room, while his underlings were shocked that their boss was keeping a mistress. But then, a group of armored, muscular men emerged from their boss's room, and everyone snapped out of their daze.

"It's the noble army!"

The same exclamations came almost simultaneously from inside and outside the mountain stronghold.

Although the Blood Wolf Gang's stronghold was also built on a hillside, its treacherousness was incomparable to that of the Vulture Gang's Ghost Cry Peak. Four infantry squads of fifty men each launched an attack from the front, directly raising their shields in formation.

Apart from a few squad leaders who had martial arts skills, most of the soldiers were ordinary people, and the bandits guarding the stronghold were even worse off, because the leaders who were somewhat capable had all been called away by their boss to attend a "memorial service".

"...So the governor said that this is a rare opportunity for real combat, giving our people a chance to fight a novice-level siege battle."

Behind the lines, Black Gun grinned as he spoke to the staff officers who had come over for a "battlefield observation," explaining the governor's purpose for the mission.

When honest Sir John heard about "practicing siege warfare," he vaguely felt that something was wrong. What did it mean that their fiefdom's garrison needed to practice siege warfare? But after thinking about it again, he felt that there was no problem.

When the empire wages war abroad, it issues conscription orders to the noble fiefdoms of neighboring regions. As one of the Best family's fiefdoms, Lagug is always required to send troops whenever there is war in the northern region. Inevitably, there will be times when siege battles will be necessary. Letting the soldiers practice in these low-difficulty villages beforehand is indeed a good choice.

Because the already inefficient command system had been wiped out due to Joel's great actions, the remaining henchmen were leaderless and looked at the regular army shield formation slowly advancing down the hillside like four giant iron turtles, all of them becoming somewhat at a loss.

Some people did try to resist, but neither stones nor arrows could harm the infantry below. The rolling logs thrown down lacked power due to the insufficient slope and were easily stopped by the well-prepared private army with tools. They could only watch helplessly as the soldiers stormed to the gate of the stronghold and planted explosives.

Having stolen Earth's technology for so many years, the Empire has long since replaced its cumbersome battering rams with lighter explosive charges for attacking city gates.

The ingredients were very simple: black powder mixed with white sugar. One explosive charge weighed a full 25 kilograms, which was somewhat excessive for dealing with such a poor-quality mud wall made of soil and stones.

After the explosive charge was planted, the infantry phalanx slowly retreated, while crossbowmen fired at the top of the wall through the gaps in the shield formation to suppress the bandits. Once they had retreated to a safe distance, an elite archer fired a rocket at the explosive charge, igniting and detonating it.

Then a loud "boom" was heard, and the gate of the stronghold and this section of the city wall were blown to pieces. At this moment, some bandits reached an unprecedented height in their lives (physical).

The battle was over the moment the gate of the stronghold was blown up.

The soldiers who rushed in encountered only sporadic resistance, and the remaining bandits surrendered en masse, obediently squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands, becoming prisoners.