When Zong Shen walked up to them in person, everyone consciously became quiet.
"You guys are lucky..."
"He didn't die in the battle just now!"
Zong Shen's tone was calm and a little indifferent.
What he said was very arrogant, but no one at the scene dared to refute it because what he said was the truth.
At this time, a bold-looking woman with dreadlocks slowly raised her hand.
"Zong Shen... Sir, please allow me to say something."
She said cautiously, her sun-red face tensed up, revealing the nervousness in her heart.
Zong Shen turned to look at this guy and gently raised his hand to signal her to speak.
After getting permission, she spoke slowly.
"My lord, my name is Vivica. This is a huge misunderstanding...many of us are not the same as Stephen York."
"I just...just came to investigate because I saw the relevant announcement."
"I have absolutely no intention of starting a war with you."
The woman named Vivica has the appearance of a typical Nordic woman. The roughness of high-latitude people makes her look a bit more fortitude than a man.
She was a little nervous at first, but then she became more and more fluent in speaking, but she didn't dare to say more, so she could only express her thoughts as briefly as possible.
Zong Shen did not comment on this, and he naturally understood the meaning of the other party's words.
Stephen York's spiny-headed lords really don't speak for everyone here.
At least more than half of the lords only came to investigate, and did not bring too much malice.
But after the crowd gathered, these guys' minds changed.
As the saying goes, "There is strength in numbers." When the number of people gathering exceeds a certain threshold, people's hearts will lose control, their rationality will be affected, and desire and luck will regain the high ground.
So these guys become followers of the team, running wherever the wind blows.
I thought that the hundreds of thousands of people present would scare Zong Shen, but I didn't expect that he would actually take action directly and carry out almost indiscriminate killings.
Moreover, the attacks are extremely powerful, almost all of them have instant kill effects.
All kinds of shields with thousands of solid points cannot withstand even one attack.
The "high-level" warriors they brought with them, who they were proud of, were like ants under such a powerful attack.
Zong Shen also allowed these guys to see the true performance of legendary combat power in advance.
In the current inherent understanding of the lords, the battle can only be regarded as a small fight.
Seeing that Zong Shen didn't pay attention to her, Vivica thought he couldn't refute.
By some strange mistake, she raised her tied arms again.
"Zong...Master Zong..."
"Quack."
"I'll kill you if you scream again."
Zong Shen said ruthlessly, and took out the [Azzinoth Demon-Slaying Warblade (Gold)] with his backhand, pointing the sharp half-moon blade at Vivica's eyes.
He now resents frivolous and cowardly communication, which seems to him to be all useless efforts.
Therefore, he has no good impression of these guys who dare to take advantage of the situation to attack his territory.
No matter what the motivations of these people are, they only look at the process and results of things.
Facing the cold blade, Vivica's body in dark red armor suddenly trembled, and she didn't dare to say anything more.
Lords compete with each other, but can also cooperate in many situations.
From the perspective of fighting for continental hegemony, every lord except one's own legion is a potential enemy.
Moreover, unlike the aborigines, the lords lacked sufficient restraints and held the privileges of the lord system.
It's not easy to effectively subdue the lord, and he doesn't have the leisure to do so.
The most he can do is manage his [Legion of Guides] well. When he dominates the endless continent in the future, the members of the legion will become the managers and builders of giant cities and states everywhere.
It is similar to the enfeoffed nobility, but Zong Shen does not intend to implement the aristocratic system.
This matter can be discussed later. All in all, he will never show much kindness to lords who are not his own.
Otherwise, given the nature of most lords who bully the weak and fear the strong, they might get lucky and try to steal his wool.
In Zong Shen's own opinion, as long as he is not the enemy of the whole world, other things don't matter.
Being able to kill and threaten thousands of lords with a bad reputation, leaving a shadow in the hearts of other lords and making everyone fear him, is definitely a great thing.
No matter how vicious his reputation is, as long as he is willing to accept people, there will always be countless lords who want to be his little brother. This is human nature.
Everyone is afraid of Zong Shen, but everyone also wants to be Zong Shen.
After pondering for a moment, he decided to get to the point directly.
"I don't want to talk about motives, I just want to talk about results."
"You are indeed lucky not to become a silent corpse."
"Now as long as you are willing to pay the price, you will have a chance to survive."
Zong Shen inserted the demon-slaying war blade into an exposed rock at his feet with his backhand, and said loudly at the same time.
Everyone didn't dare to say anything anymore, and they were waiting for his next words.
After the passion for fighting the autumn wind fades, the survival instinct and rationality of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages return to the brain.
No one dares to step forward anymore and can only passively accept the results.
Vivica lowered her head, looking extremely defeated.
Zong Shen's majesty defeated all the fighting spirit in her heart. Nothing frustrated this "strong woman" more than facing an invincible person.
Seeing the lords at the scene acting like frightened quails, Zong Shen showed a satisfied expression.
"The price is very simple. Each person only needs to provide me with 1,500 copies of the three basic resources of wood, stone, and hemp, 1,000 copies of iron resources, 200 copies of mithril resources, and 1,000 dinars in denomination..."
"In addition, the ownership rights of any 10 third-level soldiers need to be handed over to us. They can be replaced with three times the number of second-level soldiers or with 3 fourth-level soldiers or 1 fifth-level soldier."
"Insufficient resources or dinars can be flexibly converted. If there is a shortage of dinars, more equivalent resources can be given, and vice versa."
This is the compensation condition proposed by Zong Shen. In ancient Europe, if a noble was defeated and captured, the family to which he belonged could also pay a ransom in exchange for the captured personnel.
Although Zong Shen could also be more ruthless and kill more than 3,000 lords in one fell swoop, and then use [Quick Succession] to wipe out all the "small treasury" of these lords with both capital and profit.
But in this way, his notoriety will gradually become vilified and he will be easily targeted in a planned and organized manner.
There are advantages and disadvantages to notoriety. The key is to grasp the "degree". If the things you do are too ugly and dark, it will easily lead to a situation where everyone is the enemy.
What Zong Shen wants is to be evil and not attract wind. He wants other lords to know that he will not take the initiative to kill or treat other people as cattle and horses, but he will not let others bully him.
Another point is that all the lords in front of them chose to surrender.
The nature of active surrender and passive capture are different, so it is difficult for Zong Shen to be ruthless.
Then just retreat and let go of the blood of these guys. This way it won't appear too benevolent, nor will it become too dark or cruel.
Moreover, the price offered by Zong Shen was also carefully considered, taking into account the current lord's average resource reserves and wealth level through the strategy module.
After the one-month challenge period and the buffer construction period of the past few days, most of the lords' pockets are much richer than before, and their resources have become much more abundant.
The total population of most territories has achieved its first leap, from generally dozens or hundreds of people to today's level of basically a few hundred people.
The improvement of basic population and territorial development level will lead to an overall improvement in resource acquisition efficiency.
As for dinars, it is even simpler. Aboriginal people have become the best source for lords to obtain dinars.
Those who resorted to more brutal methods would directly turn into bandits, and from time to time they would turn into bandits, thieves, and rob traveling merchants along the way.
Those who are more daring often use legions and lord squads as the main body to cooperate and loot small villages far away from the capital. This is also the development trend of today's lords.
And those lords who have moderate methods can also choose to go to nearby cities to seek opportunities to make money.
With the convenience of lord's privileges, it is not difficult for lords to earn dinars through legal means as long as they are careful.
To be continued...