Chapter 210: Disaster Relief

The documents on George’s office desk recorded the property damage in Poitou City this time.

“One hundred and thirty-seven houses collapsed, and sixty-three more, though not collapsed due to the fire, need to be rebuilt. Good grief, it looks like two whole blocks need reconstruction. Those two dragons really know how to cause trouble. Does being big really make them that great?” George scratched his head, making a bitter face as he complained.

Originally, those two great dragons did not cause too much serious damage to the houses in the territory, except for the initial attack, thanks to the heroic resistance of the guards led by the four knights.

However, when Knight Val managed to free his hands to chase the Black Dragon, the situation changed greatly. The fleeing dragon did not care at all about obstacles in front of it. To them, those stone and wood houses were not real obstacles. The Black Dragon, relying on its power ful strength, robust physique, and huge size, charged recklessly like a heavy road roller.

Perhaps in its view, the debris flying everywhere as the houses collapsed, or the dust rising up, might affect the pursuer behind it. It hoped to use this to help itself escape. Although the probability of this happening was not high, it did not care about that anymore at this moment. When drowning, a person will treat any floating object as a hope for survival—even a light straw is worth risking.

This chase and escape lasted for less than two minutes. For ordinary people, this might not even be enough time to smoke a cigarette. But for the rampaging dragon, the damage caused was huge.

When flying or jumping, dragons could use their bellies to crush things. For ordinary humans, this power could be a very dangerous experience. Even when applied to houses, the weight of tens of millions of pounds and the huge impact could easily turn a small building into a pile of rubble.

The Black Dragon, being chased by Knight Val with no way to fly up or dig down, could not maintain normal balance when flying after its wings were severely injured. Whether it was knocked down from the sky by Knight Val or it ran wildly up and down, it created an effect similar to a crushing attack.

It was not that Knight Val did not want to finish it off quickly, but dragons have thick skin, tough flesh, and extremely strong vitality. If fighting at low altitude, Knight Val could not fully accelerate or use his full charging power. He was forced into this kind of stalemate.

Only after that Black Dragon finally extinguished its life force did its escape route truly fulfill Mr. Lu Xun’s famous quote: “There was originally no road on the ground, but when many people walk it, a path is formed.” It completely carved out a “new road” on its own through the densely packed houses of Poitou City.

The block where the Black Dragon first attacked had existed since the beginning of the city’s construction. At first, it seemed to be a slum area, but with the development, prosperity, and constant expansion of Poitou City, it is now a commoner district.

However, the winding alleys were still crooked and twisting. On both sides of these small paths stood a row of old and crowded buildings. These houses, rising and falling and huddled tightly together, looked like a city wall, making the alleys almost never receive sunlight, appearing so dark and damp.

Besides, if people did not have some spare money in their hands in recent years, even if George had ordered everyone to maintain the basic appearance of their homes, the condition of those houses would have been described as dilapidated rather than old.

George had not passed through that area on his way back, but the sketches in the documents clearly listed the situation. George could only let out a long sigh: “Luckily, it was not the Commercial District that was destroyed! And the damage to the Upper District is not that great.”

This kind of self-soothing like Ah Q, George rarely felt anymore. He could now imagine that the houses, which originally looked like a city wall, had become like the Great Wall outside the pass. But at least the worst situation had not happened.

Knight Val had already reported the details of the incident to George quite clearly. Although George did not blame him at all, he still understood his thoughts and difficulties. Most importantly, during a battle, one could not place too many restrictions on the knights! If they were tied up during the fight, how could they win the war?

Although George cared about the casualties among the commoners, he was not blindly merciful. As the saying goes, a merciful man cannot command an army, and a righteous man cannot manage wealth. When the time really came, George believed he could make tough decisions like scorched earth tactics. So, compared to the lives and safety of his knights, the loss of buildings was the lesser of two evils and could be endured.

If Knight Val could have driven away the Black Dragon directly, perhaps the buildings in that destroyed street could have been saved. But if the enemy suffered no major losses, they might get the illusion that attacking Bolerum Territory would not be punished. This would plant a significant hidden danger for the future development of Bolerum Territory.

Some people often talk about street politics, but in fact, many principles are the same. Just like in school, if a student is bullied and chooses to endure it silently, what they will face next is often even worse treatment. Only by fighting back hard and making the other party suffer a loss can they truly guarantee a stable school life ahead.

After this attack, no matter what, the attackers must pay a heavy price. If they showed weakness, those who tasted the sweetness would definitely push their luck. After this, Bolerum Territory might never have a day of peace again.

Because of such concerns, George did not think Knight Val’s choice was wrong. Even bearing losses now was for a peaceful future—as the saying goes, a long pain is worse than a short pain. Just like Tianchao in the past, when it was just founded and extremely poor, it sent troops to fight in the Korean Peninsula. After suffering extremely heavy casualties and great costs, it won the so-called “United Nations Command.”

Tianchao achieved the victory it believed in the Korean War. Most importantly, it raised Tianchao’s international status. The unequal clauses forced upon it by the Great Bear were “dignifiedly” abolished by the Grandfather. The reason this could be achieved was not mainly the Bear’s promise based on friendship in 1950, but the strength Tianchao showed on the Korean battlefield.

Tianchao not only pushed the White Eagle south of the 38th Parallel, but also made the Great Bear see that Tianchao’s military power could not be underestimated. Thus, the Great Bear gave up the railway and port interests in Northeast Tianchao that it had gained from the “Yalta Secret Treaty” and that Chiang Kai-shek had acknowledged. Only then, within the Socialist Camp, did Tianchao truly form a basically equal brotherly relationship with the Great Bear.

At the same time, the White Eagle could not ignore the existence of such an opponent. This proved that the only way to demonstrate strength is often through bloody war and slaughter.

Tianchao, just having stood up, dared to send troops to fight the White Eagle in the Korean Peninsula and even won. This had an immeasurable impact on the national liberation movements and their leaders in Asia, Africa, and Latin America at that time. It further influenced the surge of national liberation movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America from the 1950s to the 1960s, completely shaking the colonial system of Western powers and changing the face of the world.

Tianchao’s industrial center in the Northeast thus gained an important external security barrier, and the power displayed also created a better security environment in the surrounding areas. When later generations summarized the significance of aiding the Korean War, they believed there were two results most worth valuing: one was creating hundreds of kilometers of safe depth, and the other was creating decades of peaceful construction environment.

Looking back at this battle in Bolerum Territory, it can also be said to have yielded rich results. George’s unit that went out to lure the enemy, although it could not completely annihilate the invading forces, had initially achieved its strategic concept. Those underground rats, having infiltrated through years of layout and secret agents, bypassing many checkpoints and guard posts in the Duchy, were basically scattered.

After this battle, they would have to wait at least two or three years to organize such an action again. These experienced violent criminals were not like radishes and cabbage in the fields—where one could harvest a crop and plant another. Even if there were bandits and outlaws on the Western Continent as numerous as cattle hair, no single organization could catch them all.

Besides, most of the core members among them were either killed or captured, with only one or two successfully escaping. Training such elites was far more difficult than training ordinary cannon fodder, and they were the true cornerstone that played a key role in battles.

This was a bit like the army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, where the real key to fighting was the personal servants in the hands of the officers, while the so-called regular army in the guard stations could only beat around the bush during battles.

Most importantly, everything in this world exists relatively. These thugs, originally not within the Duchy of Nohan, were transferred from other places. Such a transfer would definitely reduce the organization’s strength in other regions.

From the information George had received earlier, the Evil Camp was already at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the Good Alignment. Such a sudden withdrawal of a large number of combat forces would surely disrupt the balance between the two forces in the original region. If they successfully achieved their goals, perhaps with the return of personnel and the subsequent growth of strength, they might even surpass the other side.

Facing such a serious failure and a large loss of personnel, if they wanted to draw on organizational members for revenge, not only would the upper levels of the organization need to consider whether their basic foundation would collapse, but even if they made such a decision, the grassroots in various places below would likely pay lip service while secretly opposing it. The distant enemies of the entire organization were far less important than their own safety. No one wanted to wait anytime for a Paladin’s evil-slaying strike.

At the same time, from these captives, some information could be squeezed out. Not only could the secret agents within the territory be cleared out, but it might also lead to a cleanup of hidden saboteurs throughout the entire Duchy of Nohan. No one liked these dark-minded guys playing tricks behind their backs.

Especially in this situation where there were strong enemies outside, and these guys had intricate connections with the Empire. Moreover, after the news of George’s attack spread, the inspection intensity at all checkpoints and guard posts within the Nohan Kingdom would be strengthened. From another angle, this increased the difficulty for the enemy to reinforce their troops.

Attacks on a territory heir are a taboo for most nobles. Once discovered, they will not be tolerated. It can be said that Bolerum Territory will have a relatively stable period of development for the next three years.

And Knight Val’s dragon-slaying act sounded a further alarm to those who dared to lay hands on Bolerum Territory. A Legend-level Ancient Dragon was equivalent to an aircraft carrier fleet in George’s pre-transmigration world. On the Western Continent, for many small lords, it might be an existence that even the combined strength of several families could not resist.

After the news of this battle spread, Bolerum Territory would immediately become famous across the entire Western Continent. Although it might make the next action of the hostile organization more perfect, it could also deter those petty criminals, making them dare not act rashly, thus creating a better external environment for the development of Bolerum Territory.

“The casualties have not been fully counted yet, but they should not exceed my psychological bottom line! Overall, the benefits of this battle outweigh the drawbacks. But how to turn those favorable trends into actual territory strength is really a headache…” Looking at the data that had been counted, George made a conclusion about this stage of the battle in his heart.

“Forget it, don’t think about it anymore. What needs to be done now is how to organize the post-war restoration and reconstruction work.” George began to calculate the possible losses in the commercial sector. “Before that, let me calculate: besides the houses, one warehouse was burned down, and one tavern was severely damaged…”

“Post-war reconstruction, post-war reconstruction! I don’t have any knowledge about this! Who would care about such things before transmigration? After transmigration, not only do I have no experience; well, even the relevant historical records are all vague…” Thinking about it, George suddenly had an inspiration. “War can also be called a military disaster! A military disaster is also a disaster! So let’s try using disaster relief methods! Why was I so stubborn before!”

George casually wrote down the ancient Chinese disaster relief measures he had seen before on the blank parchment in front of him. Why not write about modern ones? Wasn’t it because the situation was more similar?

The disaster relief measures mainly included 8 types: 1. Relief. Providing food, clothes, and money for relief, or using work instead of relief. 2. Grain Transfer. Moving people to grain, or moving grain to people, and selling grain at a flat price. 3. Care and Support. Including porridge distribution, setting up temporary shelters for refugees, redeeming children sold by refugees, etc. 4. Eliminating Harm. Destroying locust nymphs and treating epidemics. 5. Registering People. The government sending refugees back to their hometowns, exempting them from taxes, or giving them land so they can live in peace. 6. Tax Exemption and Delay. Including tax exemption, exemption from corvée labor, stopping the collection of owed grain, and lenient punishment. 7. Lending. Providing cash loans to refugees, or credit for buying essential items like food, oxen, farming tools, and seeds. 8. Frugality. Advocating thrift and prohibiting the brewing of alcohol.

“Among these, except for Grain Transfer, Registering People, and Frugality, the rest can be more or less used by our Bolerum Territory. Leveraging the advantages of centralized unity to mobilize the whole people for disaster relief, the Tianchao’s usual practice of combining government, society, and refugees, seems to be a good implementation method…” The more George thought about it, the more sense it made. The blank parchment in his hand became less and less, while the plan on the other side grew larger and larger.

The noisy tavern door was pushed open, and the warm spring breeze, carrying fresh air, poured into the already somewhat stuffy hall. The rough men drinking ale and shouting loudly turned around, ready to laugh and scold the guy coming in to get drunk, probably wanting to drag the other into their ranks.

They saw a hooded man standing at the door. The dim yellow light of the tavern cast his shadow on the wall, leaving a large black patch. He casually pulled down his hood, revealing dark bronze skin and silver-bright short hair. The man walked slowly, as if walking in his own courtyard, ignoring the people around him.

“Hey! Kid! You are…” A half-drunk carpenter, old York, was about to tease the new face as usual. Just as he opened his mouth, he heard a collective intake of breath from the crowd, followed by a uniform “Hissssss!”

York, with his wine nose, then noticed that a giant sword was already held by that silent man. The tip of the sword, like the sharp teeth of a fierce shark, stopped right at his nose. York had no doubt that if he wrinkled his nose now, his red and cute nose would be in trouble.

“Shh!” The man swept the giant sword back behind his back in a flash before York could react, then put his index finger to his lips to signal silence. Seeing York nod frantically, the man said nothing and continued walking toward the bar.

“One whiskey, make it hot.” The warm atmosphere made his voice sound even colder.

“Yes… yes, just a moment.” The flustered bartender quickly made a glass of warm whiskey, which he felt was his best work, and handed it to the visitor.

“Gulp… gulp~” “Clatter~” “Creak~~~~” The man drank the whiskey in one go, dropped two Silver Coins, stood up, and left. As the door opened with a creaking sound, the wind poured in again.

The idle men in the tavern watched this strange man leave. In the hazy night, it seemed that three others were waiting for him: one carrying a Longbow, one wearing a long robe, and another carrying a Tower Shield.

“What a strange combination, isn’t it? Never mind those weirdos, let’s continue having fun!” With the closing of the tavern door, old York seemed to come back to his senses. He rubbed the perky buttocks of the waitress, Fenna, showing his incomplete, earthy-yellow teeth, and laughed loudly.

Yes! What a strange person, like the north wind before spring, like the cold night in winter, like his ruthless blade.