Tauren Overlord

Because many Luna people...may not even know that an imperial lord's mansion has been established here.

After all, the "Lord's Mansion" of the Mountain Territory was originally just a teaching building where some Luna humans came here for vacation and study.

After eating the barbecue, Lu Heng, Kamun and others said their final goodbyes to each other.

Lu Heng used the portal to bring Kalomenos and the others to the Suspension Bridge Monastery. After settling them down, he returned to the study in the lord's mansion.

He also had new things to deal with—Barbaris's unique talent had been roughly determined.

She can consume the opponent's spiritual energy while also consuming a small amount of her own spiritual energy.

And during the consumption process, Barbaris can cast spells remotely within a distance of about 100.

Lu Heng’s first reaction to this strange exclusive talent was - how did she become a twin-tailed demon hunter?

Demon Hunter is a heroic character in an ancient real-time strategy game that Lu Heng played in his hometown.

He can use "Mana Burn" to deplete the enemy caster's mana bar and consume the enemy caster's health at the same time.

It is a skill that is quite effective against enemy spellcasters.

If the opponent intends to use a large number of melee troops to protect the caster, the Demon Hunter can also choose to be in the fire and cause burning damage to the melee units besieging him.

However, what Lu Heng wanted to complain about was that the painting styles of you two seem to be quite different?

However, Barbaris's exclusive talent is just one of the skills of the Demon Hunter.

And Lu Heng soon realized that the alien world he was in was actually very different from the world where the demon hunter was.

The various substances in this world do not have clear boundaries of having blue bars/not having blue bars.

For example, Barbaris originally had a large amount of "blue" accumulated in her body. As long as she took in more psychic energy, she would be able to awaken as a spellcaster.

The night when Lu Heng and her were intimate...actually it only accelerated the process.

In this world, spiritual energy is widely contained in flowers, plants, birds, animals, and even mountains, rivers, lakes and seas. The only difference is the amount of spiritual energy contained.

So as soon as he returned to Barbaris, he took her to experiment with various substances containing psychic energy.

For example, various meats, tater tots, and even white flour.

Since Lu Heng has psychic vision, it is not difficult for him to find these substances containing psychic energy.

He even discovered that the water contained trace amounts of spiritual energy. So was it possible to squeeze that spiritual energy out of it?

With this thought in mind, Lu Heng and Barbaris came to a small river.

Barbaris's casting range can cover a section of river.

Although the spiritual energy content of the river water is very low, as the river continues to flow, the spiritual energy is continuously extracted and the total amount becomes considerable.

At the same time, Lu Heng also took out Rosa's psychic crystal. He would use the psychic crystal to absorb as much psychic energy as Barbaris squeezed out of the river water!

If the experiment goes well, then the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas can all provide me with spiritual energy!

Even if the amount of spiritual energy absorbed per unit time is very small, it can accumulate into a large amount!

Just as Lu Heng was immersed in this exciting experiment, Leona, the patrolling combat maid, passed another piece of news to his ears through the psychic potato.

"Master, our cavalry is back!"

46. ​​Land Laws and Exile

cavalry?

Lu Heng probably remembered that after the original lord was defeated and retreated to Aicao Town, he strangely became a sealed object.

The cavalry of Qunshanling were also detained by the former lord's good brother, Pierre, the lord of Wormwood Town.

Since Pierre was so shameless, Lu Heng had no choice but to reluctantly use the burning flame to warm his heart.

As their dear uncle was deeply grief-stricken by Lu Heng, this group of cavalry troops finally returned to the Mountain Territory under the leadership of Officer Bastian.

Bastian is still very young, but he has become the most capable of the six officers under the former lord.

As soon as he saw Lu Heng, he dismounted, knelt on one knee, and said in a deep voice:

"Master, please punish me! I didn't bring back your father's remains..."

Before he could finish, Lu Heng frowned slightly, thinking how come this person was just like Leia, thinking about being punished as soon as they met.

However, he did not punish boys for their hobbies.

He waved his hand, signaling Bastian to stop talking.

"I am your lord now. You can take your brothers to rest for a while. You will be my cavalry commander later."

Bastian couldn't explain why. After just a few days of not seeing these young masters from the mountain regions...

No, his new lord seemed to have grown up a lot, and even had a stronger aura than his old father.

Along with Bastian came the news of the former lord's death.

Although Lu Heng already knew about the death of his cheap father through unspeakable means, it was obviously difficult to convince others just by saying it himself.

So his temporary role was acting lord.

According to the imperial legal system, the lord's words are the law as long as they do not violate the imperial laws.

But until the death of the former lord is widely confirmed, the serf owners in the Mountains Territory will not be so obedient.

At least psychologically, they believed that the former lord would definitely come back, and at that time many of Lu Heng's orders would be completely invalid.

Another more practical factor was that the strongest blade loyal to the lord had only now returned with this cavalry.

The reason why an imperial lord can rule a territory is legal on the surface, but in essence, it is always violence.

Rather than saying that legal principles direct violence, it is better to say that legal principles are just the lubricant for the operation of violence.

Therefore, Lu Heng was not a real lord until Weimar and Bastian returned with their respective troops.

But the present time is different from the past. He took advantage of the news of the former lord's death to formally announce his successor as lord.

Now Bastien brought back two squads of mounted squire archers, a total of about 60 horses, and one and a half squads of mounted squires, a total of about 45 horses.

With a total of more than 100 cavalrymen and the more than 120 infantrymen brought back by Weimar, the strength of the Mountain Territory has been restored by a small half.

If we were to fight a foreign war now, it would probably be very difficult, but it would not be that difficult to suppress a few disobedient serf owners internally.

As Lu Heng officially became the lord, he immediately asked the infantry commander Weimar to announce the decree he had previously formulated:

"Everyone listen up, from now on, everyone can find an empty lot and build their own home!"

"As long as the lord approves, you can choose any vacant land within the territory."

"Even if you are just an old farmer with no property, the lord can still rent you a piece of land first."

"You don't need any property to mortgage, and you don't even need to pay rent to the lord for the first three years!"

"Especially all the families of soldiers, you have been given the right to choose land first!"

"If you need wood, you can go to the surrounding woods to cut it; if you don't have tools, you can also register with me to borrow them!"

Currently, the only place suitable for living in the lord's mansion is probably the abandoned Luna teaching building.

Some merchants, serf owners and adventurers also lived in this building area, that is, the lord's mansion.

There were less than 100 of them in total, only a small part of the total population of the Mountain Territory.

So where did the serfs, who made up the majority of the population, live?

They were crammed into tents filled with a pungent smell of mold, living a life that the nobles probably couldn't endure for even a minute.

Perhaps, the former lord did not think that this barren mountain area was a place where he could live for a long time.

He also wanted to carve out a real territory in the Luna people's hometown, but his plans could not keep up with his death, so it was not realized.

And don’t these serfs who were temporarily housed in tents want to live in real houses?

So Lu Heng planned to win over the serfs by renting out their land for free, which was also a way of taking advantage of the serf owners:

He did not actually plunder the property of the serf owners, and the serfs still had to provide agricultural products to the serf owners.

At least this is the transition for now, and some more intense movements can be saved for later.

As for his three-year rent-free policy, it was given to him based on what he already had.

According to imperial law, all land not contracted by serf owners was considered the sacred and inviolable exclusive property of the lord himself.

The exclusivity of the land means that if other farmers want to cut some wood to build a house, or even pick up some branches from the forest in the territory, it would be considered shameless theft.

However, from another perspective, since this land and forest are Lu Heng's exclusive property, he can of course rent it to anyone he wants.

Even if it is rented to an old farmer and no money is charged for three consecutive years, it is legal and compliant. It's just that a normal lord would not need to do this to an old farmer.

Once this decree was promulgated, the happiest people were the old farmers directly under Lu Heng.

Because the agricultural indicators Lu Heng gave them were not heavy, they could have more time to build their own houses.

Lu Heng was not doing this purely out of charity; his action greatly boosted the morale of the troops.

Because many of these old farmers are relatives of the remaining 200-odd troops in Qunshan County.

These soldiers didn't know why the lord had become so merciful, but their response was simple: hold their weapons tightly and support Lu Heng more firmly.

Just as Lu Heng was issuing a new decree in the Lord's Mansion, new news came from Leia.

"Master, we found the refugee camp in the west. They have at least 300 people, and the number is still increasing."

"But they do not recognize our rule. They do not acknowledge that this is the Mountain Territory. They only say that this is their own exile land."

"Master, should we impose sanctions on them?"

Lu Heng knew that Leia's request was not because she was cruel by nature, but was just a routine skill of an imperial affairs officer.

According to the empire's legal system, these refugees who have escaped from their original territories can be regarded as out-of-control property.

The most gentlemanly thing for a lord to do would be to send the refugees back to their original lord.

Another equally gentlemanly approach is to directly absorb those who are no longer protected as your own serfs; this can also be considered a form of salvation.

Apart from this, a more common but not ungentlemanly approach is to kill them all.

The reason they defected must be that they were feeling great pain.

Since they are in so much pain, wouldn't it be gentlemanly for someone to help them get relief?

47. The Silver Adventurer's Way of Killing

However, is Lu Heng an imperial gentleman?

He is not, he is just a commoner who happened to come to this alien world.

This commoner knew that in order to develop a vast and sparsely populated mountainous territory, more people were extremely valuable.

If we rely on the people to give birth one by one, it will take an eternity.

Unless you are strong enough to annex others, the best way to increase your population is to attract immigrants.

Since the refugees in the exile land have already had the intention to defect, they will still run away even if they are caught again.

Even if we can use a lot of manpower and material resources to supervise them, so what?

If you are not careful, the result will be more trouble than gain.

Therefore, Lu Heng did not intend to persecute them with violence like a normal imperial lord.

He thought for two seconds, then moved his vision towards Leia and the others, and said to Leia with the psychic potato cube:

"Listen to what they say first, and don't force them to surrender."

Leia was slightly surprised by Lu Heng's reaction.

Normally, the Land of Exile is a hotbed for rebellious old farmers, and it is normal for the nobles to ask the officials to kill them all.

But since the master said so, the cause he was planning must be far-reaching, so Leia just carried out his orders.

In fact, putting aside her position, Leia also hopes to be allowed to do so.

Soon, under Nina's protection, Sintija had gone deep into the crowd and patiently wrote down the demands of these Taimenia refugees.