There can't be a Harvest Moon in the RimWorld.

Where did my cellar of tequila go?

"Where did the elite guard troops I brought back go?"

"Where has the idyllic tourist resort that I created gone?"

I patted him on the shoulder and asked him seriously, "I just left and you've already made such a mess of this place. Are you planning a revenge attack? Do you even know what this is?"

"What...is it?"

"It's a revisionist, erroneous line!" I slammed my fist on the table and roared.

My voice buzzed in the room, startling the people around me into silence. Burnett almost slammed his head into the table, accidentally knocking over two metal cups and making a chaotic noise.

After a long while, seeing that I didn't continue speaking, Burnett cautiously raised his head and said to me respectfully.

"But...but boss...you've been gone for three months!"

…………

Around the time I was tricked by those two old bastards into trying to travel through time, Burnett and the others realized something was wrong.

I clearly said I was going to take a nap when I went inside, but I haven't opened the door or made a sound for a whole day and night. However, out of respect for me, they didn't dare to barge into the bedroom to see if I was killing someone in my sleep.

On the evening of the second day, Burnett and the guards of the territory discussed for a long time before finally mustering the courage to knock on the door, only to find that I had disappeared from the room!

They guarded and trained around the tavern day and night, and I never saw anyone come in or out, so there was no way I could fly away or disappear into thin air.

These people discussed it and unanimously agreed that I was summoned away by Lord Shafulin to report to that incredibly mysterious cosmic overlord.

Aside from that possibility, they really couldn't think of how I disappeared so quietly. Even my words before going to sleep, "I'm going to sleep, don't bother me unless it's important," were repeatedly analyzed by them and they unanimously concluded that I was implying that I had important matters to attend to, and that I should handle things on my own in the territory unless something major happened, and not seek my help.

Therefore, as key personnel in the "Mickey's Mischief House" area, Burnett, Zero Lion, Four-Legged Chicken, and Six-Wheel Face assigned tasks internally. Burnett was responsible for the daily maintenance and management of the tavern, while the Four-Legged Chicken and Six-Wheel Face took turns patrolling and guarding the territory, carrying heavy loads for training, and scavenging for food. The three took turns working in shifts.

The situation itself was suspicious. They might have noticed something was wrong after a week and scattered. Coincidentally, on the third day, a group of artisans with their families appeared at the tavern door, approached Burnett, and wanted to set up workshops and sell goods in this free trade zone, as I had promised.

Upon hearing this, Burnett immediately felt a chill run down his spine, believing that I was secretly manipulating the flow of these craftsmen, able to plan the development of the territory even when I wasn't around... Therefore, he immediately demarcated the area and established the first workshop area according to the ideas I had previously described to him—the blacksmith forging camp that Ganan had just traded with.

Normally, such a coincidence would only happen once and then be over. Without trade routes, investment, or publicity, these craftsmen who came from the packers' village would soon give up further investment due to the poor business and leave this impoverished place.

But the butterfly effect, which I hadn't considered, began to take effect without my noticing.

Because I severely damaged the military strength of the Loader's Territory and abducted a large number of town guards, the Loader's Territory completely withdrew its defenses and recalled most of the privateer forces that had been roaming the wilderness.

The decrease in privateers on the wasteland has led to a shortage of armed escorts for caravans traveling to and from the loader's territory, causing unease among many large merchants.

At this time, the pirates of Sabre Bay keenly sensed the weakness of their old rival and began to frequently attack passing caravans, trying to find out the details of the loader's leader and make sure that it was not a trap to lure the enemy out.

These attacked caravans, having had their trade routes disrupted, cancelled their plans to cross the Gobi Desert and began to explore investing in the free trade zone near the tavern. The bald man's blacksmith master also enthusiastically promoted the area, creating a positive publicity effect.

Thus, by a twist of fate, the first group of blacksmiths who arrived at the tavern were surprised to find that a familiar caravan was indeed being drawn closer to them, as if by some unseen force, and began purchasing and trading goods.

Burnett was overjoyed, but also increasingly terrified, fearing that he might not have grasped the message and would be beheaded by me upon my return. So he planned to have the 460 Legion take the initiative to protect the safety of this trade route.

The sudden appearance of the 460 Legion startled the pirates of Sabre Bay, who realized they had indeed discovered a trap. They immediately withdrew their scouts and returned to defend their territory.

The overjoyed merchants unanimously agreed that what I had boasted to the lord was true; even these pirates had to give way to Lord Shaflin's authority. Thus, they became even more proactive in conducting trade in the free trade zone…

Chapter 440 The Empty City Stratagem

These successive opportunities can be seen as either coincidences or as a butterfly effect triggered by my previous actions.

Without external intervention, this simple cycle of artisans and merchants will only result in a stagnant production and business. Goods will be sold from artisans to merchants, and raw materials will be sold from merchants to artisans. Before long, this temporarily prosperous market will go bankrupt due to the single demand, leaving behind some incomplete industries, just like the failed investment attraction efforts of many small and medium-sized cities...

But Burnett wasn't stupid; on the contrary, he was a merchant who had once been in charge of the foreign trade of Shisong Village. Even if the village didn't have a marshal skilled at repairing toilets, it wouldn't be so ignorant of basic supply and demand.

Therefore, Burnett was determined to implement "the trade strategy secretly devised by Boss Zoffy". So, on the one hand, he contacted representatives of merchants and artisans, and sent the 460 Legion to actively maintain market order and optimize the business environment. On the other hand, he took the initiative to travel south along the familiar trade route to contact his old acquaintance, the Cedar Clan, and try to persuade these stubborn barbarians to participate in this trade activity that covered the entire Gobi Desert.

Burnett's journey took a full fifteen days. During those fifteen days, the 460th Regiment encountered some even stranger things…

While the Lion Legion was escorting the merchants away from the "Mickey's Mischief House" area, they were suddenly surrounded by a group of menacing Sabre Bay pirates who demanded all the goods.

Although the two sides were roughly equal in number, the Lion Legion only had seven or eight combatants, plus the veteran guards of the caravan, making a total of just over ten combatants. A direct confrontation would only result in heavy losses.

Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, a sudden volley of arrows came from behind the pirates, catching them completely off guard.

The one who appeared was the traitorous leader who led the Reverse Lightning Legion's slave division out for practical training and to freeload.

After the two met, Eaton keenly sensed that something was wrong. Why would pirates, who had previously kept to themselves, suddenly launch an attack?

When the scouts sent out reported back, they learned that after the misunderstanding and three days of retreating to defense, Sabre Bay had finally realized that it had been a fool. Enraged, it sent pirates to attack everywhere in an attempt to save face.

Apart from the group of pirates who tracked down the Free Trade Zone and were ambushed by chance, the rest launched a proactive attack on the Loader's Territory, initiating a wave of attacks outside the collapsed city walls and successfully breaking into the city, achieving a goal that had not been reached for more than twenty years.

Finally, after the cavalry fought back desperately, they barely managed to repel the attack, but at the cost of severe damage to the workshop and commercial areas. These bandits may not have been particularly strong in combat, but they were first-rate experts at looting and destruction. The result of setting fires everywhere was that it took another day and night to complete the disaster relief.

The city's wealthy merchants were furious about this incident and demanded that the lord compensate them for their losses. Otherwise, they would report the day's events to their faction leaders, telling them that this seemingly indestructible fortress in the Gobi Desert was now nothing more than a facade.

The wrangling and passing the buck continued for two days, but the lord failed to notice some more dangerous phenomena emerging in his territory...

For strategic reasons, Eaton took the initiative to attack several pirate positions, demonstrating its strength but also revealing the true strength of its forces in the free trade zone, barely buying itself some time.

During this period, a large number of artisans from various territories fled to the Free Trade Zone under the pretext of going out of the city to collect raw materials, seeking refuge with relatives and friends who had already established workshops.

Their logic was quite simple: the once safe loader's territory had been breached twice, and this time the craftsmen had suffered heavy losses. So, wasn't it only natural to relocate to a safer free trade zone with powerful figures in charge?

After nearly two hundred artisans fled, the lord realized that things were not going well and tried to suppress the people's hearts with force.

But this time, his usual methods failed.

He discovered that the previously honest merchants and craftsmen had adopted an extremely tough stance.

The merchants said: If you cut off the road to the free trade zone, they will stop all business dealings, move out of the territory immediately, and leave this dangerous area.

The craftsmen said: The merchants are right! If they don't come to buy things and provide raw materials, then they will have no choice but to stop production, and we will all go our separate ways and die together!

With constant external attacks, the demand for war supplies in the territory was particularly acute, and the lord had no choice but to grit his teeth and agree to their demands, thus accepting the fact that he had been held hostage by the bourgeoisie.

When Burnett returned with the skeptical Ganan, they were just in time for this wave of industrial relocation.

Both Gann and Burnett were stunned by the prosperous scene before them.

Trade activities that are normally strictly controlled by the territory are almost unrestricted here. The enthusiasm for commerce and the power of capital are amplified almost infinitely, like a pot of boiling water, which appears extremely prosperous!

In my view, this is the result of the industrial dividends accumulated over many years by the loader, which brought a group of highly productive and skilled craftsmen and hot capital to the market, which was originally just a rudimentary free trade zone market and catalyzed it into a very complete industrial chain.

Once capital becomes self-circulating and begins to replicate itself, it will start to invade indiscriminately, at a speed and on a scale beyond imagination.

The departing merchants quickly discovered the conflict between the Loader's Territory and the Sabre Bay pirates. Despite the hollowing out of the territory's industrial areas, the Loader's Territory still needed to recruit and expand its army, relying on the equipment produced by the merchants.

At this point, in the seller's market of the free trade zone, the lord could no longer interfere with the artisans' production plans. So the old blacksmiths and merchant representatives quickly formed an alliance, taking advantage of the frequent desert skirmishes between the two sides to sell steel weapons and armor, making a fortune.

Spurred on by this, Ganan immediately declared that a new leader had been elected within the clan, and he was confident he could persuade the new leader to open the Cedar Clan's market to them, so they could share this tempting pie together—the Cedar Clan prides itself on bloodshed? How tempting!

As the free trade zone rapidly developed, the lord of the Loader's Territory repeatedly proposed to meet with me, but Burnett politely declined each time.

Although Burnett didn't know where I was going, it couldn't be anything good for this cruel and ruthless lord to be asking.

In this situation, the lord of the Loaders' Territory also tried to change the status quo. In the second month, he led hundreds of newly formed cavalrymen to the tavern in a grand manner, trying to demonstrate his military might, suppress the arrogance of the free trade zone, and capture these craftsmen.

Eaton once again played a crucial role when the cavalry surrounded the territory.

After secretly plotting with the 460th Legion, they decided to withdraw all their forces from the tavern, leaving none behind. Neither the Reverse Lightning Legion nor the 460th Legion had much of a chance against cavalry anyway.

Eaton's method was simple: have Zero Lion, Four-Legged Chicken, and Six-Wheel Face, who had been training for a long time, take turns wearing my full plate armor, stone war mask, and steel halberd, and sit in the tavern, pretending that I am sitting in the middle of the room, without saying a word, cosplaying as a senior otaku.

As long as the people outside continue playing music and dancing, and business continues as usual, everything will be fine.

Eaton said with absolute certainty that even if the lord suspected it might be fake, he would find himself unable to afford to gamble this time. Because the merchants believed it was real, the artisans believed it was real, and even his privateers looked at the armor with trepidation, believing it to be genuine.

Even if the lord exposes the fake in front of him, Saber Bay will not easily let go of the fat meat in front of him.

Conversely, if production in the Free Trade Zone were to cease due to the collapse, the armaments of the Loader's Territory would be severely affected. The ultimate result would be that pirates would emerge from the coastal bases, plunder all the wealth of the land, and leave behind only corpses and ruins.

Finally, just as Eaton had said, after a day and a night of stalemate, the lord withdrew his troops with a gloomy expression.

Chapter 441 Where Did They All Go?

After listening to him ramble on and on, countless thoughts raced through my mind, ultimately culminating in a wistful sigh…

These guys are really lucky.

Surrounded by wolves, they managed to find a way out of the chaos and confusion by using a clever empty city strategy.

These clues aren't profound, but I know their most important reliance is the fierce battle I fought in the Loader's Territory.

That's why, even though my men disappeared in the tavern, my influence still lingers in this desolate land. Whether it's Burnett and his gang from within, or the enemies lurking nearby, they all cautiously assume I'm still here, waiting for their chance.

It seems that foreign wars are still inevitable.

Of all these people, the only innocent ones who were truly kept in the dark were the pirates of Sabre Bay...

"Well done."

At this point, I probably couldn't explain the situation clearly with a thousand words, so I'll just assume that everything was really my arrangement and offer some encouragement.

At this point, your tone should be calm and slightly disappointed, making your subordinates feel that you have only completed the task, but there is still a long way to go before you achieve perfection. This will prevent them from making wild guesses about the details and instead make them reflect on whether their actions were appropriate.

Seeing that I had stopped flying into a rage, Burnett quickly asked, "Boss, you've been gone for so long, you went to see that lord, right? I wonder if that lord has any new instructions?"

I nodded and said, "You guessed right... the master did indeed assign me a new phase of tasks this time. But don't rush, tell me first, after giving you so much time to develop, have you accumulated enough resources?"

Burnett nodded hurriedly and said, "Boss Zoffy, as you can see, this free trade zone has become the hottest market in the vicinity under your plan. This is something I couldn't have imagined back in Shisong Village! So many people are coming to trade, and even passing caravans are willing to detour just to see this emerging land!"

“Indeed excellent.” I turned to look at the still trembling Ganan and said with a smile, “I have already met the tribe’s friends on the road. With their participation, we can continue to expand the market to the south and reduce our dependence on the manufacture of military supplies.”

Burnett said proudly, "Of course! From what I've observed, even the black market dealers from Sabre Bay secretly send people here to sell stolen goods and buy up stolen items, thus joining this trade in secret."

Pirates? These guys probably want more than just a trade. Whether they're merchants or spies, that identity needs to be put in quotes.

"Are these people trustworthy? Have they done anything else?" I asked.

Burnett also gave a meaningful look and whispered, "Don't worry, boss. I had Zero Lion and the others keep an eye on things. So far, they haven't made any other moves and are just quietly transporting goods every day. I suspect they're planning to slowly infiltrate this place through trade, just like they did with Ten Pine Manor..."

I glanced at Burnett, whose expression was inscrutable, and whispered, "Don't worry, there's nothing here worth spying on. This trading area is just a public facade for me; the truly dangerous things are hidden in the shadows. I still have many trump cards up my sleeve..."

I can roughly guess what Burnett was thinking. These pirates were inextricably linked to the Ten Pine Manor massacre, yet there was no way to confront them directly. That's why Burnett tolerated their covert infiltration, hoping to find a clue that they might have revealed.

"By the way, when I came back this time, how come those agave plants had grown into such a large patch?"

Speaking of which, as soon as I got back to the tavern, I was stunned by the magnificent agave thicket on the beach. Before I left, there were only two plots of land, and the entire harvest would only be enough to make two batches of tequila. How did it turn into a sand-blocking forest?

Burnett pointed helplessly to the door: "Boss, the agave plants you left behind grew rapidly after you left, and were fully mature and harvested within a week. But the very next day, a large patch of new shoots sprouted from the soil!"

...I'm certain this is the colonizer system's fault. Here you go, shoulder the burden, and stay strong.