Chapter 1180
Eivass: In conclusion, let’s start with some GG.
“The original spring of Rock Cell City collapsed, the new Lord ‘Hope Eivass’ took residence, and Dawn City was established—”
The hawking voices, accompanied by the cries of hawks, spread far and wide across the desert.
After Dawn City restored its water supply and subsequently returned to normal life, the surrounding city-states that had been watching from afar finally became convinced that Dawn City indeed had a new Lord.
Thus, they temporarily lowered their flags and abandoned the idea of dispatching or hiring slave knights for a buffet.
The Lords among these city-states were in contact with each other. Although their relationships might not have been good, if any one of them encountered trouble, the nearby Lords would definitely respond—for example, by “taking care of” his citizens for him.
These spies, on one hand, would transmit information outwards, and on the other, would instigate rebellions against the Lords at appropriate times. Since everyone had such spies in their cities, if a Lord began a large-scale purge of spies, it would generally be considered that there was a problem on his end, and thus others would intensify their efforts or even unite against him.
Trekking through the desert required a large amount of supplies. City-states’ water and supply were already limited, and dispatching troops would inevitably require rationing drinking water for residents in advance, which would then be leaked by the spies. Therefore, wars had “omens” and could be responded to and guarded against in a timely manner.
Coupled with this tribal warfare model, which could hardly establish supply lines, as long as one or two waves of attacks were defended against, the opposing side would retreat due to insufficient supplies. Therefore, regular armies were mostly engaged in harassment and surprise attacks. It was truly difficult to capture a city-state without an inside job.
However, if a Lord’s lineage were to be severed, slave knights could be dispatched immediately to capture people.
Since the Lord was dead, there would naturally be no one to defend an empty city. If no one came to capture them, it would be difficult for them to travel to neighboring city-states, and they would undoubtedly die. In such a situation, capturing them as slaves was actually giving them a way out, so there would naturally be no danger.
Slave knights did not necessarily belong to the Lord’s own property, and in fact, it was highly probable they did not.
They were similar to the “construction companies” of Avalon or Star Antinomy, mainly undertaking outsourced projects assigned by officials.
Because Lords typically needed to maintain their reputation—although this was laughable, the Desert People did care about it—they would not directly send their subordinates to capture people, but rather buy people from slave knights. This way, these slave knights would have a stable income, and the Lords would, through this method, foster a mercenary force of Extraordinary individuals.
For tasks like sacking a city, if one’s own people were sent, it would be too heartbreaking if a few died accidentally. It was better to send people outside the city to supervise and direct, letting the slave knights storm forward. If they needed to retreat, they could be covered or forcibly driven back to the front lines, depending on the situation.
For a small amount of money, water, and insignificant status, one could obtain a standing army of Extraordinary individuals without any need for management or responsibility for their reputation—for the Lords, this was an absolutely worthwhile deal.
It was ironic.
In this desert where people were casually captured as slaves, the most valuable asset was actually human beings themselves.
—For example, these messengers who transmitted information in the desert.
Besides delivering letters, they also conveyed various intelligence and news in the desert—sometimes for a fee, sometimes for free. For instance, news from Heaven City spread throughout the entire desert this way. After all, relying solely on word of mouth from merchant caravans, news could not be updated in a timely manner, nor could it cover all city-states.
A female Harpy, with a bare upper body covered in feathers and her face painted with red ochre, was preaching on the street: “The Dawn City Lord has formulated new rules; slaves can also be promoted to Free People! We are recruiting Free People!
“Anyone who signs a twenty-year free labor contract, and a ten-year free labor contract for their descendants, can enjoy the treatment of Free People! Each family has three free education slots, and the contract period includes food, accommodation, and drinks!
“Extraordinary individuals only need to sign a ten-year contract + five years for their descendants. Extraordinary individuals at the Third Tier and above only need to sign a five-year work contract and will no longer need to pay water tax. After the contract ends, work can be renewed and profits obtained! ‘Hope Eivass’ promises that the treatment for all job types will not be lower than 80% of that in other city-states!”
These words, which sounded like GG promoting welfare policies…
In fact, they were GG posted by Eivass himself.
These messengers came from the same organization, called “Desert’s Voice.”
The vast majority of them were Harpies, as they were most adapted to the desert environment. There were also some mutated Lizardmen with dust-resistance capabilities; humans could not do this job.
Harpies could fly in the desert, thus avoiding Phantom Demons and bandits hidden in the sand, directly bypassing quicksand traps invisible to the naked eye, and moving at high speed in the desert.
In addition, they could glide on the wind and cross the “River of Death” in the desert with little effort, successfully reaching another oasis. Lizardmen could also swim in quicksand and even move rapidly by burrowing into the sand.
The only drawback was that their effortless movement was due to their special physical structure. Therefore, they could not transport other people, and could only transport some important and inexpensive small goods, as well as letters.
Desert’s Voice’s main clients were the Lords of various cities, and only Lords could afford this price. Because of their special mission, even slave knights would not easily capture them… to avoid delaying the important business of powerful Lords and thus bringing unnecessary trouble upon themselves.
So, even in the depths of the desert, letters could be sent outside the desert.
However, except for Heaven City, the Lords of other city-states rarely paid attention to “promotion.” After all, education was scarce in the desert, and the lineage inheritance of Lords generally had to rely on family tutors who were domestic slaves, the quality and comprehensiveness of which were inevitably insufficient. Therefore, “Dawn City” immediately became a topic of discussion.
People eagerly discussed the prices offered by Eivass.
Working for twenty years without pay to escape slavery—this was not harsh; rather, it was too generous. Not to mention that food, accommodation, and drinking water were provided during the work period, and three descendants could be arranged for education and employment. Didn’t this mean that three less portions of food and water were needed per family, and it also ensured employment for at least two generations?
Compared to Heaven City’s “illusory promise of permanent free food and water without any work as long as one entered Heaven City,” Dawn City’s offer, although slightly more demanding, felt more realistic!
—This was Eivass’s strategy.
Although his ultimate goal was to turn everyone into Free People and abolish slavery, this could not be achieved overnight.
If Eivass directly granted them the status of Free People, the benefits would come too quickly and too easily, and they would not cherish them. Moreover, if all slaves disappeared instantly, these Desert People who had just become Free People would themselves be unhappy.
And if Eivass’s promises for the future were too beautiful and too illusory, they would become suspicious—this was not conspiracy theory, because such a situation truly occurred in Anxi. Everything was promised beautifully, but once people arrived, they were directly captured and sacrificed to the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, or captured and resold as slaves.
This was something many city-states were still doing today. The Anxi people’s disbelief in such promises was a survival mechanism they had developed, not mere suspicion. Without this level of defensive awareness, they would have long since met their demise.
Therefore, if Eivass truly advertised like this, it would only be mixed with noise and would not cause any significant stir. Even his own residents would tremble and be full of resistance towards him.
So, Eivass’s thinking was simple.
Since they could not handle or believe things that were too good, he would give them something slightly less.
The Lord of Heaven City had an overwhelming advantage in Anxi primarily because he had explored a management system at the feudal level within a slave society.
In a dilapidated place like Anxi, feudalism was already considered advanced and civilized.
Eivass took it a step further—he started practicing capitalism!
Although capitalism was not a good thing either, in a slave society, it was like a savior from heaven!
(End of this chapter)
