I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 122 Players' Meeting

After resting for a while, Xiaodao took his men to inspect the town of Duoluo.

The town is not big and there are not many buildings. Apart from the Church of Mother Earth and several blacksmith shops, carpentry shops, shoemakers shops, leather shops and other handicraft workshops, there are only fifty or sixty houses made of a mixture of wood and stone, with a permanent population of four to five hundred people.

Maybe even less.

Xiaodao made a quick inspection and came to the above conclusion. Because of the war, many residents of Duoluo Town abandoned their homes and fled, so he had no way of counting the exact number of people in the town.

Since you don’t know, ask someone.

"Fellow villager, how many people do you think are in Duoluo Town?"

Xiaodao turned and asked the old herdsman who was leading the cow and the child. The latter listened carefully to the former's words with a strong Bohemian accent, and then replied in the official language of Bagniya with an even stronger local accent.

"I have no idea……"

do not know?
Looking at the frightened expression on the old herdsman's face, Xiaodao understood.

Oh, I dare not say that.

No, actually Rob really didn't know. He was just a cowherd who grazed cattle in the mountains. He had to count the cows with his hands and feet. He would get confused if there were more than twenty cows. How could he tell the exact number of people in the town?

It’s okay if you don’t say anything. Xiaodao won’t argue with NPCs like the old herdsman.

He walked around and found the players who were responsible for carrying the pot and food, asked them to start cooking, and then he went to the church.

Xiaodao entered the church, where many players gathered. They were talking and discussing and summarizing the successes and failures of the attack.

"How many casualties did we suffer?"

Xiaodao asked again.

"No one died, but two unlucky people were injured. They are receiving treatment in a clean room inside the church."

"I've brought some people here to intercept some cattle herders and town residents. There are about one or two hundred of them. What should we do with them?"

One person raised his hand to speak.

"What else can we do? Let's identify them first. Once we're sure they're just ordinary NPCs, let them go."

Another person made an opinion.

"They're just ordinary NPCs. Killing them isn't good, capturing them is even worse. It's best to just let them go. Don't touch their property, as it might cost you reputation and honor... Baihu Game Studio is all like that."

"I understand. If you have no objection, I'll do it this way."

"By the way, I seem to have captured a few unusual prisoners."

The other players raised their hands and said, Xiaodao looked over and saw it was Home Alone.

"What prisoners?"

"They were hiding in the blacksmith shop. There was a woman and three men. The woman was wearing a long robe and looked like a clergyman. The three men were also dressed in unusual attire. They looked like landlords or mayors.

What should I do, let him go or kill him?"

"Let's lock it up for now. Since it's a special NPC, it must have a special use."

Xiaodao stood up and expressed his own opinion.

"Let me ask the locals first. When I was in the Protectorate, local rulers and religious figures like these always had a few stories attached to them. There's definitely something wrong with releasing them, and there might also be side effects if they're killed directly."

"How did you deal with it then?"

A non-veteran player asked. "Referring to history, we'll lock people in cages and hang these special NPCs in town or city centers. Then, we'll have ordinary locals come over and have them vote on whether the NPC lives or dies."

If there are more living votes than dead votes, we will analyze the ratio of living votes to dead votes and decide whether to release the person directly, cut off his hands and feet and then release him, or investigate and then release him.

On the other hand, if the number of dead votes exceeds the number of live votes, the same treatment will apply: direct public execution, public criticism before execution, or investigation followed by a decision on the execution method.

Xiaodao strongly recommends this method.

"By doing this, we can save a lot of time and avoid accidental killings or not killing someone who should have been killed, which will avoid a lot of trouble."

A dozen or so small-boss players gathered in the hall of the Earth Mother Church and discussed the matter. Some of them thought this method was very good, while others thought it was too troublesome and decided to just kill them all.

Some people also thought that they should all be released... In the end, there was only one person who thought so, and his proposal was opposed by the vast majority of people.

“What should we do if all the tickets are live or dead?”

Someone asked curiously, and Xiaodao scratched his neck without hesitation.

"Kill all those who won votes like this, along with their relatives and friends, leaving no one alive."

"Huh!? Why?"

"It's difficult to unify people's opinions. If we could unify them, and we rule out the possibility that the votes were manipulated or falsified, then all the dead votes would mean that the person being voted for is a villain, and no local people want him to live.

If all the votes are raw, it would be even more troublesome. This means that the person voted for has a high reputation in the local area. They are either saints or heroes. Keeping such people around is a huge disadvantage to our rule. Only by killing their entire family immediately can the sequelae be minimized."

"Oh……"

Most of the players present exclaimed in amazement, saying that they had learned something new.

"Vote."

Xiaodao raised his hand and said.

"Please raise your hands if you agree to vote on the life and death of special NPCs."

With a clatter, most of the people present raised their hands. Xiaodao simply counted the number of people and nodded.

"It seems everyone agrees with my proposal. Kid, since you're the one who captured him, you can take the others to deal with him."

"Ah, wait, I'm from the Extremes, I do this..."

"No problem, go ahead."

Xiaodao shook his hands impatiently, signaling Home Alone to work faster.

"You participated in this event on behalf of the Ultramarines and have contributed to the mission. So stop talking nonsense and get to work... No, wait a minute, wait until the meeting is over first.

Now let me ask, has anyone gone to the road leading to the outside world in the canyon?"

"No, before the battle started, I led my men to attack the militia guarding the valley entrance. We also guarded the road and intercepted people. I am very sure that no one escaped."

A player raises his hand to speak.

"That's great. If nothing unexpected happens, the news of the fall of Duoluo Town will not be known to the outside world for the time being. We can probably have one to three days to rest and recuperate.

Brothers, use this time to quickly figure out the situation here, the population and resources of the town, what the situation is like near the town, how far the enemy is from us, and how many people there are.

These things need to be clarified as soon as possible. Now let's assign tasks and assign responsibilities. Whoever does a good job will naturally receive task contribution points. Whoever fails will be clear at a glance, and no one can shirk responsibility."

(End of this chapter)