In the coastal territory, Dolan Village is a typical poor village in the territory.
The village is small, with five to six hundred villagers, and has no resources worth mentioning. It is also located in a remote mountainous area, and has the stubborn habits of mountain people. The food is tasteless and it would be a pity to abandon it.
If a cult takes hold, this kind of mountain village will become even more isolated from the world. Not only will it be difficult to manage, it will also threaten the roads down the mountain and have an impact on the territorial economy.
Therefore, Vincent was not surprised by their resistance. The rule of the demon clan in the coastal territory has always been concentrated in a few large towns and seaside ports, and there has always been a lack of attention to the mountainous areas and edge areas.
If they are not allowed to understand the situation clearly, these ill-informed guys may become proud and think that they are the defenders of human dignity, and become even more arrogant.
Another point that cannot be ignored is that because such places are closed and remote, they have not found their own role in the economic system of the territory, and cannot obtain development opportunities and dividends, so they are naturally prone to centrifugal force.
Vincent could have taken other paths to avoid this battle, but since he chose the far side to come here, he wanted to remove this potential threat that was so close at hand.
After taking over this place, Vincent immediately sent someone to notify the church and asked them to come back to preach.
Of course, it only allows preaching and does not allow churches to interfere with local taxation and commercial activities.
Missionary priests will definitely come uninvited. Not only will a proactive notification be a favor to the bishop, but it will also have the intention of winning over the church.
If the cult dares to come back again, it will not only target the lord, but also blatantly target the Church of Light and Order.
The villagers of Duolan Village are not a professional army, and they do not have a numerical advantage. Facing the skeleton army, they have no chance of winning in a field battle, but they can still hold on despite the danger.
Those villages located on the plains were not so lucky.
Nuer Village is surrounded by flat farmland, and the land is open and there is no place to hide.
Even if they hide in a manor surrounded by high walls, farmers will worry that the young crops in the fields will be destroyed by the army, and it will be difficult to maintain their fighting will.
At this time, as long as Vincent asked the troops to draw up their ranks and let the army of skeletons with weapons and bright armor advance like mountains and seas from the direction of the light, the farmers in the farmyard would be frightened and helpless when they saw the gleaming weapons.
Next, Vincent asked local people to serve as messengers under flags and deliver the lord's conditions to the village.
If the other party does not allow the messenger to enter, Vincent will ask a group of people to shout outside so that the people inside can hear.
The first article is that the lord has exempted 20% of the tax, which will definitely be implemented and will take effect this year.
The second article is to accept the village's renewed allegiance and protect the personal safety and property safety of the loyalists.
The third article is to ensure not to plunder locally after the war and to purchase military supplies fairly.
The fourth article requires farmers to open up trade routes and merchants to purchase and sell supplies.
The above are all conditions that are beneficial to farmers and villages. When farmers see that the demons do not massacre, but instead offer conditions that benefit them, they will not make up their minds to resist.
Compared to the moderate policies above, there are some contents that are more violent.
The lord required that the village must hand over the village chief, bonder or landowner who violated the lord's tax reduction policy, confiscate their property and distribute it to the poor villagers, and liberate their tenant farmers and serfs.
Cultists must be handed over, and ordinary people who are bewitched can be given the opportunity to convert, but those who are stubborn will be judged by the church.
If this is not carried out, the entire village will be excommunicated as an apostate.
Yes, Vincent emphasizes letting the church judge.
If you betray the Church of Light and Order and are expelled from the church, the church will not care about the life and death of these people, and ordinary people will not think that the lord's punishment is too excessive.
As expected, Vincent's request was flatly rejected by the local tax collector and large landowner Ducas.
Peace negotiations are unlikely to succeed because they are designed to let the people see the selfishness and cowardice of the landlords.
As for the method of attack, Vincent planned to show his strength, but there was no need to attack forcefully.
Under normal circumstances, when a demon commander faces an enemy that refuses to escape, he will usually choose to besiege it first, and then use monster harassment and various dark magic methods to weaken the opponent.
Pollution of water sources, arson in the air, release of pathogens, and spread of poisons are commonplace, and assassination and manipulation of enemies are also easy to do.
If there is an opportunity, it is also a popular method to directly transform enemies without magic protection into undead creatures, so as to combine inside and outside.
After such a torment, if there were not a large number of magicians and magic tools to deal with it, even if the defensive commander was determined and his subordinates were loyal and brave, it would be impossible to resist for three days.
After all, most of the time, the demons have no need to capture prisoners in exchange for money or collect labor. If they don't want to obtain terrifying or undead servants, they will not deliberately preserve the villages, and often let the Balrog burn them all.
So, after a symbolic rain of arrows was fired at the wall and the skeleton archers were asked to prepare rocket fire, the village of Nuer, with a population of thousands and fertile land, surrendered smoothly.
The wealthy tax collector Dicas and the cultists hiding in his house were tied into rice dumplings by the people and thrown out.
This is the best. Vincent's life belief is to make more people happy, and he doesn't need to use traditional arts if he can.
His stated goal was to leave behind all the people and the village and only take away the people's loyalty.
But sometimes even if Vincent really has good intentions, says good things, does good deeds, and is a good person, the people who are full of prejudice against the demons don't believe him.
Thousands of heavily armed skeletons and the gallows on the big tree at the head of the village can have a better publicity effect.
Compared with the gentle breeze and drizzle in Duolan Village, the action in Nuer Village, which is more prosperous in the north, is much bigger.
If you want to gain the trust of the people, in addition to giving them benefits, you must also make enemies for them.
The tax collectors and accomplices who own half of the land and wealth in the village are the best targets.
"Come on, my toys, let me show you the landlord fight package I prepared for them." Vincent said to Niniya, "Don't worry about scarcity but inequality, don't worry about poverty but insecurity. To stabilize the countryside,
, the problems of farmers and land must be solved."
Seeing her concerned expression, Vincent explained kindly.
"Study hard, combine local experience with the actual situation in your hometown, and give your fellow villagers some hard work."
So, after sending out monsters and arresting all the landowners, family members and accomplices based on the villagers' reports, Vincent held a unique grievance meeting on a cool and breezy night.
As expected, when the local poor farmers were asked to accuse the landlord tax collector, the tax collector Ducas directly denied it and did not admit his crime at all.
"Look, you look like a bumpkin who has never seen the world in Silver Dragon Castle. You actually think you can get away with being tough?" Vincent sneered and greeted his necromancer, "The suffering masters in the world are not enough, let's add some in the underworld.
Come."
With the wand waved, thousands of pale ghosts rose up from the land around the village, like a miserable and confusing white smoke, surrounding the venue of the complaint meeting.
To be honest, this amount really exceeded Vincent's expectation.
It seems that there are a lot of unnatural deaths in the village...
"There are ghosts at the top of your head. Some people just don't believe it." Vincent curled his lips and made some arrangements. "It's time to listen to ghost stories. Let the skeletons and monsters get ready to sit down and recharge their batteries with midnight fear.