Chapter 28: Ready

How long would it take an outstanding administrator to rescue a city trapped in the desperate chaos of war and fill it with life and order again? Very few people could answer that question precisely, but I could. When Fred brought order and temporary peace to pre-war Kampnavia, I was right by his side. In one morning—he only spent one morning—he made the city shine with peaceful brilliance again, polishing the name “First Sun of the Morning Light River” anew.

Apart from one speech, one could say he did nothing. He did not punish the soldiers who had broken the rules, did not reassert wartime security decrees, and did not order the soldiers to compensate the citizens they had harmed. He only told all the soldiers that many of the husbands and children of the city’s residents were soldiers themselves, fighting on a frontline somewhere unknown. Their fight was to protect their own loved ones, and also to protect our loved ones. And the citizens in the city were precisely the wives, children, and parents of our fellow brothers in arms.

After being dismissed, the soldiers rushed out of the camp like madmen, banging on the doors of the city residents house by house, and in front of one frightened citizen after another, they wept bitterly and swore repentance. They did their best to compensate the families they had extorted and cheated, and sent people who had been innocently injured in brawls to the military camp hospital. A city that had originally feared soldiers as if they were bandits suddenly became filled with deep affection between soldiers and civilians, as close as fish and water and as deep as the sea.

The soldiers did not hide the fact that the city was about to be attacked, and this news did not bring more panic. The city originally had only some poor, resigned people left, and they were not entirely unprepared mentally for war.

We immediately threw ourselves into the many complicated matters. Rodrick and Roll led a team to inspect the ships at the dock. Any Delanmaya ships that wished to leave were inspected and then let go. The fishing boats originally belonging to the city’s fishermen and the ships that could not leave were all requisitioned, and appropriate compensation was given according to their value. They obtained more than fifty small fishing boats.

Dakla and Riley led people to strengthen the city’s defenses, focusing on the city walls and arrow towers around the dock. Kampnavia faced the Morning Light River. On the south side, leading to the dock, there was only one city gate. The gate was about as tall as two people, made of sturdy teak planks joined together. The city wall on this side was about as tall as five people, and in a crescent shape it surrounded the dock area. This would be the main battlefield where we would fight the Winston.

Carlson energetically led the guard patrols through the city to maintain public order. At the same time, he chose suitable spots in the city to build simple barricades and get ready for street fighting. More importantly, he passed a message to the city’s people: we have not given up resistance, and we have a chance to win this battle.

Fred sent five urgent letters in a row asking for support from neighboring cities. By his optimistic estimate, the nearest reinforcements would arrive two days later than the Winston army. In the letters, Fred reduced the total number of the Winston to five thousand, to make sure the cowardly noble lords would have enough courage to come and grab credit.

After sending the letters, Fred went to the riverbank and questioned experienced fishermen, learning in detail about the conditions on the river.

I was not idle either. In fact, aside from Fred, I had the most matters to worry about. I got the key to the government treasury and began purchasing wartime supplies in the city. I had already figured out early on where to find these things, so I took my account book and led a team to the dock.

As expected, the merchants on the docked merchant ships surrounded me in a circle. After repeatedly going through life-and-death situations, ordinary merchants—except for the big commercial magnates with close ties to various governments—no longer dared to dream of maximizing profits. They only hoped to unload their goods as soon as possible and then run off to a safe place to avoid the chaos of war. They had been trapped in this city for a long time, and now they were finally allowed to leave. At this moment, someone willing to come forward and buy their goods was simply saving their lives. Besides, the person in charge of purchasing was a young lad whose beard hadn’t even grown; maybe they could take advantage of him and get a better deal…

They underestimated me too much. They thought I was a gullible novice and never imagined that they themselves were the lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

“My lord, I have forty thousand standard crossbow bolts. Based on the current market price, I’ll give you a twenty percent discount. That comes to four thousand gold coins. What do you think…?” He thought I was an idiot—this price was twice the market value.

“Crossbow bolts? We’re not short of crossbow bolts. What our purchasing list says we need is… let me check. Ah, here it is: twenty thousand standard longbow arrows, and crossbow bolts at our discretion! We can’t accept your amount or your price. Sorry, please go back.”

The merchant began to wipe sweat: “Ah, my lord, please, please think it over for me. All my property is in this pile of arrows. Right now, on my ship, we’re even using arrow shafts for firewood. I beg you, buy at least a little. The price is negotiable…”

“Is that so…? One thousand gold coins, I’ll take them all.”

“One thousand five hundred—you have to at least let me have something to tell my family.” He was sniffling and crying.

“One thousand two hundred. This matter isn’t entirely up to me, either. The higher-ups only allocated that much money…” I said with infinite sympathy.

“One thousand three hundred! Just consider it as you saving my life.” He would go to any lengths.

“One thousand two hundred fifty. Next!” I was tired of it and didn’t want to give him another chance to argue. Anyway, the initiative was in my hands.

He gritted his teeth and agreed. I thought this poor man would probably be forced to kneel on a washboard by his wife when he got home. If I told him now that I had originally planned to spend two thousand gold coins on his crossbow bolts, I didn’t know how long his face would fall.

Another merchant: “My lord, I have twenty thousand standard longbow arrows here. The price is…”

“No need. Our stock of longbow arrows is already sufficient. What we need now are standard crossbow bolts…”

…

After being busy for a long while, I finally watched with great satisfaction as the last merchant left in front of me with an expression like someone who had just been bitten by a dog. I spent less than half the budget to replenish the needed armor, food, and weapons. Only warhorses were hard to obtain in sufficient numbers on short notice, but that was also within our expectations. It was hard for me not to feel a little proud of my work efficiency.

It was about time. I needed to go complete the other two things Fred had asked me to do…

I found Hugh. Early on, I had informed him that he didn’t need to crowd into the purchasing office with the other merchants, because I would come to him. At a price slightly above market value, I bought all the goods from him and his merchant partners—not just wartime supplies, but also some luxury goods and decorations that were not very useful—and personally placed the sailing permit in his hand.

“This is something Mr. Fred entrusted me to handle. Because he is busy with the city’s defense, he has to regretfully apologize to you and all your friends. I hope you can understand.”

“You are too kind. I really don’t know how to thank you enough. You have already saved us twice—ah, three times. We originally thought…” You originally thought this trading trip would definitely be a loss, and you might even lose your lives, I thought secretly to myself.

“Mr. Fred said this is what friends should do. If we are fortunate enough to survive this time, we hope to have more dealings with friends in the future.”

“I understand.” The shrewd merchant heard the hidden meaning in these roundabout words. “The Enrique Chamber of Commerce will always be happy to provide help to friends.”

I knew very well how huge the help a chamber of commerce could provide was. I wasn’t just talking about wealth. A chamber of commerce with even a little size had its own offices in every major city of every country, formed its own information network, and regularly transmitted commercial information from various places. Commercial, geographical, and military intelligence from any region could be transmitted between chambers of commerce at extremely high speed. Its accuracy and efficiency were even higher than the military’s secret reports. Fred had, without spending much of anything, obtained an intelligence network of his own for the future, although it was not of much valuable help to him at present.

After seeing Hugh off, I came to the Golden Rose. I was glad to be able to tell Kelsey and Red Flame that the children had been arranged to live in a public school, with the city treasury allocating funds to take care of their food, lodging, and education. Seeing that the orphans had been so well settled, Kelsey’s joy was simply beyond words. Unable to hold back her excitement, she gave Red Flame a warm hug and kiss, which instantly made the valiant Ranger shy and awkward.

On behalf of Fred, I asked for their help. Although the tough thieves were not many in number, to us, who were already at a disadvantage, they were definitely a rare and valuable help. Moreover, in battles on the water, we had already gained a deep mutual understanding and knowledge of each other. If they could join the battle, it would be an enormous help to us.

I was not refused. Out of responsibility toward the orphans and hatred for the Winston, Kelsey did not think long before accepting our invitation.

On the night before the expected battle began, Fred gathered us and all officers in the city at or above the rank of company commander in the command post. In front of us was a huge map of Kampnavia.

“As we know, the enemy will sail toward us from the east. Their ships are large three-masted warships. Based on my understanding, they have a total of five hundred heavy long-range attack weapons aboard, such as catapults and ballistas. That number is about five times ours. The enemy numbers ten thousand. Counting the temporary combatants we’ve gathered in the city, we have three thousand in total. Looking at the numbers, we are at a disadvantage.” Fred spoke to us with ease and confidence.

“And our advantages are: first, they won’t expect that we are already prepared; second, we requested reinforcements early on. At the earliest, two days after the battle begins, reinforcements from Milasen will arrive—conservatively estimated at one thousand, possibly more. After that, our reinforcements will keep coming. In other words, we only need to stall for one day and we’ll win. Third, our opponents are coming by ship, so it’s unlikely they have cavalry.” He added, “A Winston on horseback is not a real Winston.”

“What does everyone think about this battle?”

“What’s there to think? One comes, chop one down. Kill one and we break even, kill two…” Dakla muttered from the side. His words were clearly from his heart, not from his brain.

Riley felt ashamed of his friend’s words. He poked Dakla to stop him from continuing to say such unconstructive things.

Fred heard what he said. He was not surprised by this kind of statement. “No, my friend. What we want is not to break even, or to make a profit of one or two. What we want is victory.” He added with a smile, “Life is not meant to be risked.”

At this moment, this sentence had completely changed its original subtext. In Carlson’s mouth, it had been our reason to run for our lives. But now, in Fred’s mouth, it was an inspiring declaration of our victory.

“As far as I know, when the Morning Light River reaches this point, the deepest water is less than three people tall, and the river channel can hold at most three ships sailing side by side.” Kelsey suddenly pointed to a corner of the map and said. The place she pointed to was a sharp, twisted bend not far from the dock entrance. “If we block them here, even if we can’t completely annihilate the enemy, we can still inflict quite considerable losses on them.”

Fred’s eyes lit up. “Kelsey, do you have a way to create a blockage in this place?”

Kelsey nodded proudly. “Don’t forget, this is exactly what we do.” She lowered her head, calculated for a moment, then continued, “We can hold them here for at least half a morning. If they lack skilled sailors, we can hold them even longer.”

“How many people do you need?”

“No need for more. There is still a day of preparation. My people are enough.” Kelsey’s answer carried the unique pride of a woman.

“No, you do need them, miss. Just blocking them there would be too wasteful. We need to prepare an even grander welcoming ceremony for our guests.” Fred’s smile carried a hint of hidden danger…