our family is gone

Chapter 763 Transformation

If we consider the entire region during Hamlet's heyday, it can now be roughly divided into three areas.

The actual controlled area is the city that was developed by itself, plus the surrounding developed areas.

Occupied areas are those places occupied by surrounding lords.

Then the areas in between are no-man's land, which refers to the unmanaged areas.

There are now three places in Hamlet that can be called cities, Hamlet, Owendo and Bastia. Two of them are not in the actual control area, and the rest, even the castles of the three barons, are only at the town level.

Why do I say so? It's very simple. It's because of the limitation of productivity. This means that in order to form a city, external input is required, whether it is population or resources, and there must be pillar industries.

Hamlet is by the sea, Owendo by the river, and Bastia by the mountains.

After the decline of Hamlet, Owendo relied on its special geographical location to attract a wave of population, and developed because of its shipping and grain industries.

Bastia has monopolized the mountain roads. If you want to get out of the mountains, you have to take a cut from him. If you want to get in, you have to take another cut. How can such a key geographical location not be prosperous?

However, those baronies located inland have no rivers or seas around them, are not in key locations, and are surrounded by undeveloped wilderness and dense forests.

Unless they can integrate the entire territory and then invest a large amount of money, like Lance did, throwing in a million gold coins will only be enough to get started.

But would those nobles be willing to do this even if they had a million gold coins?
So you don't have the ability to know, the limit of control over the territory is a relatively large town, not a city.

The rest must be divided up and managed by the fiefdom knights.

It can be said that once these towns were defeated, the so-called aristocratic rule collapsed.

But Lance chose to push forward...

The soldiers who went out for reconnaissance on horseback soon discovered a village located in the wilderness. It was quite large. They sent someone back to report, and the rest began to wander around on horseback.

When a few horses with scouts showed up, those guys didn't think anything of it. The worse the environment, the tougher the people would be. They were not afraid, but ran back and shouted a few words, and soon someone who could convince the crowd would gather people.

"The horse bandits are coming!"

"Go and inform the mayor!"

"Get your weapons!"

There are large fields outside. Although the autumn harvest has been completed, the haystacks can still be seen.

After passing through the farmland, the scouting soldiers were able to see the stone walls outside the village, although they were only slightly better than those made of wood and mud.

Inside the square wall are some scattered houses and a few wooden watchtowers, about five or six meters high.

I didn't dare get too close because there were archers standing above and it would be embarrassing to get shot.

Young and strong people began to gather together, picking up various weapons. They became noisy and lively. After all, there was not much to do after the autumn harvest.

"Did you really see it? Make no fucking mistake!"

A slightly fat middle-aged man was also alarmed by this incident. He looked quite respectable, and his attire was clearly different from those of the common people. After all, as the mayor, he was the local tyrant here.

"Really? That's not the case with the caravan. Those riders must be bandits who are here to invade the area."

The mayor looked uneasy when he heard this, but he was not too panicked. This kind of thing was not surprising because it was winter after the autumn harvest.

They have some experience in dealing with robbers and bandits. If the other party only has a dozen people, they must not give in easily. They will probably have to fight a fight, otherwise they will become fat meat.

But if the other side has more people, then put on a desperate posture, and then negotiate and give them some gifts to make them go somewhere else.

Even robbers and bandits are just looking for food, there is no need to risk their lives together.

He was uneasy because he was not sure about the other party's background, because the horse bandits must be more powerful than ordinary bandits. After all, many mercenaries could not afford horses...

"People! Lots of people!"

The archer on the wooden watchtower suddenly shouted.

Before others could react, some curious people who were leaning on the wall to look out turned around and ran back, still shouting.

"Run away! We can't defeat you."

The sudden accident made the mayor angry. If you run away, who will take care of my property?
"Catch him for me!" The mayor raised his hand and pointed, and someone came up naturally. He controlled the entire town, so how could he not have thugs?

Compared to the civilians who might not even have enough to eat, these thugs were naturally more ferocious. They pounced on the unlucky guy and grabbed him, dragging him in front of the mayor as if to please him.

"You are such a loser! You are scared like this by just a few horse bandits." The mayor went up to him and started punching and kicking him, as if he didn't care about his life or death at all.

The tragic wailing and the fierce look of the mayor controlled the restless crowd. As if feeling the fearful gazes around them, a hideous smile appeared on the mayor's face.

A bunch of bastards!
But no matter what he did, he could not affect the situation on the other side, because the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground became clearer and clearer, and even the ground could be heard vibrating slightly.

It wasn't just one person leaning over the wall to peek, and the panic was spreading uncontrollably.

"So many horse bandits!"

"Ahhh!"

As if realizing that something was wrong, the mayor did not even bother to show off his authority. He quickly dragged his fat body toward the watchtower. If it weren't for his lackeys pushing him, he would not have been able to get up there.

I secretly swore in my heart that next time I would build a staircase instead of a ladder.

After climbing up with great difficulty, he almost fell down after just one look.

You have to know that if there are more than ten or twenty horse bandits, it is already very powerful, because horses are more difficult to raise than people.

But here, hundreds of cavalrymen began to roam around the periphery, cutting in from both sides and surrounding the back, which made it clear that they wanted to blockade the entire town.

This is not the most terrifying thing. What is even more terrifying is the countless teams following behind the cavalry.

Their neat equipment and relatively intact formation made their pace extremely impactful. If they howled a few more times, they would probably scare many people to death.

"It's over... it's over!" The mayor was so frightened that he froze in his tracks, muttering, "Why the hell is the emperor here?"

As a person who had been out there in his youth and had a certain understanding of the empire, the only team he could think of was the emperor of the empire whom he had never seen before.

Not to mention him, even those lackeys didn't know how to react. They were arrogant in front of those serfs, but at this time they were like quails.

"Open the gate immediately to welcome the Lord! Those who resist will be killed! Those who rebel will die!" A fast horse came to the town gate and shouted, which woke up the mayor. "Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!" At this time, the mayor had no intention of resisting, so he shouted loudly, and even feared that something would happen, so he hurried down.

Even though he didn't hear much clearly, he heard the last sentence, which was about killing and death.

Human potential is sometimes unlimited. It was so difficult for him to climb the ladder just now, but he was incredibly fast when he came down. He used his hands and feet, and his fat body was unusually agile.

At this time, chaos began to spread in the town, because they didn't know what was happening and were like headless flies.

This is what ordinary people are like. No matter what era it is, they don’t have much room for choice. They tend to accept things silently, and no one ever cares about their thoughts.

When the gate was opened, most people saw the army lined up not far away, and panic spread uncontrollably.

Everyone’s first thought was not to resist, but to hide or flee from this place.

Because in this era and this world, the army is never considered a good thing at any time, and it is even more terrifying than bandits.

It seemed as if the people outside had anticipated this. Soldiers rushed in as soon as the door opened and forcibly suppressed the chaos. In the face of absolute power, the small town could hardly make any waves and remained obedient.

It’s not that some people wanted to escape, but the rangers outside were real, so they were captured right away.

If the lord had not forbade the indiscriminate killing, I'm afraid that the war horses would not have caught them as they passed by, but would have cut off their heads with sabers.

Soon everyone was driven out, a few cavalrymen left their people behind, and almost everyone was gathered together, including of course the terrified mayor.

However, no one was killed, so the civilians did not fall into despair. They could only look to the other side in fear.

Instead, the troops began to take a short rest on their own. Even during the rest, there was no chaos. This kind of discipline made the mayor, who had met the nobles, even more frightened.

Just wait a moment for the next carriage to come forward from behind.

Lance's figure finally appeared. He glanced at those people and finally fell on the mayor who was obviously prominent. He couldn't help but think of the one he killed at the beginning, who was also fat and bloated.

The mayor obviously noticed Lance and wanted to come over, but was afraid of the guarding soldiers.

Lance walked straight towards the crowd, and Grindel and Boudica followed him, except that one had green hair and the other had red hair. When they stood together, the combination of red and green was really funny.

But no one could laugh. When the mayor saw Lance coming, he quickly turned back to warn the civilians, fearing that they would disturb the big shot and implicate himself.

His control over the town can be easily seen from here. With just a few words, he scared the civilians so much that they lowered their heads and didn't even dare to look.

Similarly, what made the mayor so nervous was not Lance's pressure, but the pressure from the army nearby.

How can those places that have lost their rule for many years be made to obey arrangements again?
That’s when the military is at your doorstep.

"Are you the mayor here?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The mayor came forward with a flattering smile on his face, but he was embarrassed the next second because Lance asked a question.

"Do you know who I am?"

"My Lord..."

Although it was already winter, beads of sweat still appeared on the fat man's head uncontrollably.

"I am Lord Hamlet, the master of this land."

For the mayor, the name Hamlet seemed to have some kind of magic. For a moment, he was stunned and his expression became strange.

Judging from his age, he should have witnessed the prosperity of Hamlet and also experienced the catastrophe that destroyed the city.

I can’t tell how it feels to hear this name again today.

But Lance didn't give him much time to accept the news, and continued to question him.

"I didn't appoint you, so where did you get the title of mayor? If you are the mayor, why don't I get your taxes?"

The mayor reacted immediately when he heard this, and a look of uncontrollable fear appeared on his face.

This place is a lawless area. He is of course a self-appointed mayor. As for taxes, of course they are left to him as the mayor.

But it’s hard to say now. Who would have thought that Hamlet would come back to life...

"Report! The inventory has been completed."

Suddenly, a soldier came and handed Lance a registration form. Lance glanced at it and handed it to the mayor. "Can you see if there is anything missing?"

The mayor was stunned for a moment before he took it. He didn't understand what it meant at first, but when he saw what was written on it, he grabbed the paper tightly. After pausing for two or three seconds, he really started crying and wailing in panic.

"No, sir!"

The mayor cried and shouted, his fat body trembled and he almost jumped up.

"It seems that something is not missing." Lance took the registration form from his hand and gestured to the soldier beside him, "Take it away."

Two soldiers came directly and tried to lift the mayor up, but they failed and could only drag him down.

During the whole process, those thugs and lackeys didn't dare to say a word and hid in the crowd pretending to be quails.

Everyone knew that the mayor was dead, and they also heard that the man was a real noble lord, much more powerful than the mayor!

At this moment, a large group of people came up from behind, and their clothes were obviously different from the soldiers' uniforms.

Those people came up and started to register those ordinary people, and then randomly picked a number of people from the crowd and took them away for questioning. During this process, no one dared to resist.

How could Lance waste time talking to him? He was just waiting for the result of the house raiding.

At the same time, the mayor was taken down in front of the people, both to establish his authority and to eliminate the people's fear of the mayor.

Soon there was some commotion in the team, because those guys who usually acted arrogantly were pulled out, and some even drew their weapons to resist.

"I'm still useful, don't beat him to death."

Lance let Boudica go directly. He didn't know whether she heard him or not. Anyway, he stuck the axe in his hand to the ground and rushed forward with a grim smile.

They fought with bare hands against those armed, but the difference in level also depended on the level. Boudica knocked them down in just a few moves, just like playing with a dog. If she hadn't held back, she would have been killed with one punch.

Lance just smiled and said nothing, just watching a monkey show...