Imperial Crown.

Chapter 284 Refugee Issue
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……

As the locust plague hit, refugees began to gather outside Raven's territory. The fence that had been erected before came into play, and together with the Eagle Army's constant patrols, it ensured the safety of the territory.

But concentrating a large number of refugees at the border is not a long-term solution after all, and everyone in Eagle City is busy with this issue.

Denise was one of them.

As Raven's aunt, she has her own separate study.

This was only the third day after she returned, and she had already begun to diligently deal with various trivial matters. Not only the refugee issue, but also the affairs of the Mon'en City Chamber of Commerce that had been neglected during this period.

Angel, the personal maid, brought Denise a cup of hot tea, and then stood respectfully by her side, ready to be ordered at any time.

Looking at her mistress, An Qi couldn't help but feel curious.

When in the city of Mon'en, the merchants privately gave Denise the nickname "Iron Lady", describing her as being swift and decisive in her words and deeds, and even her words being powerful.

But today, this iron lady seems to be much softer.

Although he was leaning over the table as before, the corners of his mouth were inadvertently raised, revealing a faint smile.

There was still a bright look in her eyes, which represented Denise's abundant energy and clear thinking, but there seemed to be a different flavor in the brightness, and people would be infected by the relaxed mood at a glance.

What is most eye-catching is her outfit.

Although she generally follows her usual dressing style, the neat short coat and tight high-necked long skirt make her look inviolable.

But there was a soft and beautiful light yellow ribbon around her neck, tied with a generous peony knot.

"Angie, hand me file number 3." Denise suddenly spoke in a soft voice.

An Qi took the order and picked up a document from the bookshelf: "Madam, this is what you wanted..."

Before he could finish his words, the door suddenly opened and Weisdon rushed in, bumping into Angel.

With a sound of "Ya", the documents scattered all over the floor.

Weisdon quickly reached out to support Angie, then helped to pick up the documents scattered on the ground, not daring to raise his head.

But the expected storm did not come.

Denise tutted in dissatisfaction: "Don't just stand there, hand the things to me when you're done."

"Oh, okay." Weisdon was stunned for a moment, put the sorted documents in front of Denise, feeling a little strange.

In the past, not to mention making trouble recklessly, even walking with the wrong posture would have resulted in a severe reprimand. Why was he being let off so easily today?
"What's the matter? Tell me now." Denise took the document and scanned the data on it. "Don't disturb me while I'm working."

"Oh, that's right." Weisdong came back to his senses and said, "Brother needs a detailed report to estimate how much food can be transferred from the Mon'en City Chamber of Commerce after the locust plague."

"Got it." Denise didn't look up. "Sit next to me for a while. When I'm done, you can send it over directly."

Upon hearing this, Weston picked a chair and sat down, looking at Angel with a questioning look. Angel shrugged in response, obviously not quite understanding why Denise had such a change.

Anyway, it was a good thing, so Weisdong didn't intend to delve into it.

After waiting for about half an hour, Weisdon came to the conference room with the data calculated by Denise.

Raven took the document, glanced at it, and motioned for Weisdon to sit down.

After handing the document to Fiona, Raven looked at Old Gordon and said, "Continue."

"Yes, sir." Old Gordon coughed and said, "As mentioned above, the refugees are now mainly concentrated outside the southeastern border of Eke Territory, and there is a trend of continuing to infiltrate northwest along the edge of the territory."

"How many?" Raven asked.

"There are no less than 30000 people in total," said Old Gordon with a bitter face. "Although the fence can keep them out, if left alone, there is a high probability that a riot will occur."

Raven nodded slowly and looked at Weisdong: "How do you think we should deal with this?"

Weisdon didn't expect that this problem would fall on him. After a little thought, he said, "...then we can do it the same way as before, with oatmeal porridge and gray bread. We can draw a place for them and help them for the time being."

Raven remained noncommittal about this answer, rubbing his chin as he thought.

Seeing Raven's reaction, Weisdon felt a little embarrassed. He leaned over to Fiona and whispered, "Did I say something wrong just now?"

Fiona didn't say anything either, she just wrote the words "locust" and "time" on the paper.

Weisdon frowned at first, then slowly relaxed his brows.

The locust plague is no different from other natural disasters, and this one is particularly severe.

If we do not provide refugees with shelter but only provide them with food, not only will we fail to save them, but we will make them food for the locusts.

Moreover, the last refugee outbreak occurred after the Death Hand Cult caused trouble, and the time was concentrated in winter and spring. There were still large tracts of undeveloped land in Raven's territory.

As long as the refugees survive, they can immediately engage in land reclamation and production to earn food for themselves.

It is midsummer now. By the time the locust plague is over, it will probably be late autumn or even winter. By then, the refugees may still not be able to find work.

You can't support them for a lifetime, just for a while.

Fiona thought for a moment and said, "Sir, last year we provided Earl Jonah with a batch of grain. Although this year's harvest has been completed, the losses were also very large. Now there are less than 3000 million pounds in the treasury."

"Even with the estimated 600 million pounds that the Mon'en City Chamber of Commerce is transferring, it is already the limit to feed the 12 people in the territory. If we allow these refugees in, even if we save money, there will still be a large food gap."

"So I suggest that we strictly guard the border and not let any refugees in. If necessary... use the Eagle Army."

Fiona didn't say explicitly what she was going to do with the Eagle Army, but everyone present understood her implication.

Raven asked Old Gordon again: "What do you think?"

Old Gordon pushed his monocle and said, "Master, I also think we can't let these refugees in. Now the locust plague is coming, and people are panicking. Not to mention the food they consume, the chaos they bring is enough to cause the security of our territory to collapse."

"But we can't let them die outside our borders."

"After all, you are the mayor of Xuefeng County, and now you are also the supervisor of Security Zone No. 3. If you leave the refugees alone, some people may find fault with you and use it as an excuse to attack you."

"So, I think it would be better to send out the Eagle Army to 'guide' these refugees to other places, and at the same time call on the nobles of the five counties to take them in."

After hearing what old Gordon said, Weston looked at Fiona again and shuddered in his heart.

This pair of grandfather and grandson wearing glasses are more vicious than each other.

Fiona clearly intended to watch the refugees die, but old Gordon was even more powerful, not only did he want the refugees to die, he also complained that they weren't dying fast enough.

The refugees must be extremely weak and starving to death to have made it here. To "guide" them on this long journey now would be like killing them with a soft knife.

But Weston had to admit that old Gordon's method was indeed skillful and sophisticated. It not only solved the refugee problem, but also prevented the nobles of the five northwestern counties from blaming the Griffith family.

The most interesting part, in Weisdon's opinion, was his elder brother's reaction, which made him gradually realize the essence of being a noble.

All the evil ideas were left to his men, and he only had to pretend to be helpless and go with the flow. But Raven's reaction afterwards made Visdon's speculation go wrong.

"What you two said makes sense, but the fundamentals are wrong." Raven looked around at the three people and said slowly: "I asked you to think of a solution, not to solve the refugees themselves, but what should we do under the premise of accepting refugees?"

After saying this, everyone fell silent and looked at Raven in astonishment.

"Sir, cherishing life is indeed a noble virtue." Old Gordon advised, "But let me say something unpleasant."

"The so-called honor of the nobility has long been discarded. If it weren't for this, there wouldn't be so many refugees piled up outside our territory."

"For the sake of the stability of the territory, please... give it more consideration."

Raven smiled and suddenly changed the topic to something completely unrelated: "Gordon, do you remember what the Griffith family looked like five years ago?"

Old Gordon was stunned, then recalled his original situation.

Donald ruined the Griffith family and then passed away. The originally huge Eagle Territory was reduced to a small area like Eagle Town.

It was so fragile that when facing a group of more than a dozen horse thieves, they had to use the castle as bait in order to annihilate them.

The warehouse was so empty that rats were running around, and none of the armor and equipment was useful.

Seeing old Gordon lost in his memories, Raven said, "If Viscount John had not helped us and returned Goldshire Town, the Griffith family would not have achieved what it has today."

"So." Raven slammed the table.

“All people are actually one entity. The misfortune of others is your misfortune. Don’t think that the bell tolls for someone else, it tolls for you.”

Old Gordon was speechless, Fiona nodded slowly, and Weston seemed to understand.

Raven went on to say, "And population is a resource. Only with enough people can a territory develop steadily."

"Now, I need you to tell me how many refugees we can accept?"

Old Gordon began to look through his notes, while Fiona began to check various data, and finally they both looked up almost at the same time.

The grandfather and grandson looked at each other, and Fiona spoke up, "My Lord, there are basically no vacant houses in the territory now, but three of the warehouses built around Eagle Castle are temporarily vacant. If they are slightly renovated and crowded, they can accommodate about 3 people."

"There is also an abandoned mine in the mountain behind Eagle Castle." Old Gordon added: "Although it is not suitable for long-term residence, it can accommodate about 2000 people just to escape the locust plague."

Raven drummed his fingers on the table. "That's nearly 10,000 people..."

As he spoke, his eyes fell on the map on the table.

This is a map of the five northwestern counties, drawn by Simon's aerial brigade, and now marks the movements of swarms of locusts.

Judging from the map, the locust plague is currently advancing on two fronts.

To the south, it has occupied half of the southwestern border of Hampshire, and to the north, it has appeared on the southeastern edge of Saveryshire.

"In 10-15 days at most, the main force of the locusts may arrive in our territory." Raven said, "If we calculate in 10 days, regardless of the area, and build a temporary shelter on the original site of Holo Territory using ordinary stone materials, how many people can it accommodate?"

"As for this..." Old Gordon lowered his head and began to calculate. With Fiona's help, he quickly raised his head and said, "If we only mobilize the labor force of Holo Territory, we can probably build a building that can accommodate 6000 people."

Raven nodded decisively: "Then order them to execute it immediately, open the border, and start accepting refugees."

"But... Master." Fiona was a little worried: "What about food?"

Our own stored grain is not enough. Once the locust plague is over, grain prices will surely soar, and by then you may not be able to buy grain even if you have money.

"Don't worry about that." Raven said confidently, "I will find a way to get food."

"Do you have any other questions?"

"Nothing."

"Then do it immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

Old Gordon and Fiona both took the order and left, leaving only Raven and Weston in the room.

Raven ignored his younger brother and stared at the map in deep thought.

These 16000 people are basically the limit of how many the territory can safely accommodate at the moment. If there are more, we will be a little overwhelmed.

"Brother." Visdon saw Raven's dilemma and asked, "Old Gordon said before that he would call on the nobles of the five northwestern counties to accept refugees. Do you want to carry it out?"

Raven waved his hand, rejecting Visdon's proposal.

If you do not intend to accept refugees, you can still make this call.

But now that I have made up my mind to accept it, I cannot do that.

It is helpless that you cannot do what you say and cannot say what you have done.

But it's rare for me to be a good person. If I can only do half of it, I always feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, right, Captain Kojia!" Raven's eyes lit up.

The Koga territory of Wessassin had just been harassed by Viscount Brocka, and had suffered a serious loss of residents. It was not short of food, but it was short of manpower. There must be a large number of vacant houses in the territory, which were most suitable for accommodating refugees.

Raven immediately contacted Wesasi through the Skyhawk platform and briefly explained the matter.

Versacine was overjoyed.

It can be said that he had been living a miserable life over the past six months. He had just taken back the territory and was exhausted from urging the spring plowing. As a result, the crops in the fields had not yet grown and the locusts were about to come.

There aren’t even enough people to harvest the crops!

Now that the refugees have arrived, it can be said that he has recovered a lot of blood. He immediately stated that he would discuss with Knight Link and bring people to guide the refugees. In addition to the empty houses, some temporary shelters will also be built. Overall, about 10000 people can be diverted.

This made Raven breathe a sigh of relief. 16000+10000, there was only a difference of 30000 people from 4000. With this number, if he tried hard, he could take over his territory.

The refugee problem can basically be solved.

“Nobles.” Raven sighed, his voice teasing. “They usually eat, drink and have fun, but when they encounter problems, they can only complain… haha!”

If those nobles hadn't been so incompetent that they couldn't even govern their own territories, there wouldn't be so many refugees.

After all, there had been peace for too long, and the Hand of Death riot seemed to have failed to wake them up. They did not learn to face the problem, let alone how to deal with it.

I don’t know if there will be any progress after this locust plague.

However, not all nobles were at a loss as to how to deal with the locust plague. In the Nord province, there was a noble who not only accepted a large number of refugees...

I even want to solve this insect infestation.

……

(End of this chapter)