Chapter 108: The Carrot and the Stick

Terras Forest was dotted with mountains and spanned tens of thousands of miles. There were more mountains deeper into the forest, and they were even steeper than the mountains in the outskirts of the forest. Wissen Town was situated at the center of a small plain, with only a few small hills within a two hundred mile radius. But the mountain ranges became more frequent after walking out of the small plain.

A few hours later, with the speed of the Unicorn, Yang Ling had successfully arrived at his destination.

The Aila Mountain Pass was the main path in and out of Wissen Town. Even though one could make their way around this mountain pass, they would have to travel thousands of miles of mountainous paths and cross countless dangerous areas. The detour would take more than half a month. Thus, almost every merchant team used the pass instead. Aila Mountain was practically the only way in or out of Wissen Town.

One man can hold a pass against ten thousand enemies!

The Aila Mountain Pass had a treacherous path, with steep cliffs on both sides. Even a monkey would have difficulty scaling the cliff, much less a human. As long as they built a fortress along the walls of the cliff, they would be able to attack the enemy forces from the high ground. It was easy to defend and hard to attack.  ( NovelFull )

Exiting the Aila Mountain Pass, one could see a boundless wasteland. Heading south and crossing the thousands of miles of nothingness, one would reach the expansive Banto Empire. If they headed west, they would reach the rich Livenza Alliance. If they headed north and passed a vast swamp, they would arrive at the powerful Rossi Empire.

Securely controlling Aila Mountain Pass was equivalent to clasping the throat of Wissen Town.

When Yang Ling arrived, the builders had already built a three-meter-tall wall under the directions of the craftsmen. The wall was about a hundred meters long and three meters thick, its main body built using sturdy Flower Rock. It was coated with an ash-like brown cement, its function to prevent the erosion of rainwater. From far away, it looked like a large dam used to collect water, or a giant dragon that was crouching on the mountains.

After a moment’s deliberation, Yang Ling placed the Rossi people’s Lion Flag on the wall. As Harribell had said, even though the Banto Empire was scheming to occupy the resource-rich Wissen Town, they would not dare to act on too large a scale for the time being, fearful that they would invite the interference of their mortal enemies. Now that he had placed the army flag of the Rossi Empire on the wall, the Banto reinforcements would have to think twice before they acted. They would be full of considerations!

Any amount of resources was precious before a large battle. Of course, he was not going to place all of his bets on the battle flag of the Rossi. He summoned his Magical Beast army and instructed them to rapidly get into action.

The Withered Tree Warriors turned into large trees and blocked the gates, while the Horned Bee Beasts and Gargoyles were responsible for defending the critical gathering points. Even if there were no one to instruct them, they would still attack the sieging enemies on instinct alone.

The Evil Eyes were responsible for defending from the top of the wall. With their concentrated firepower, Yang Ling believed that the attacking Banto army would have a hard time charging up the wall. The spider army dug into the sides of the meandering path, setting up a heavy ambush. The Banto would be fine if they did not approach, but if they charged forward with all their men to blockade the meandering mountain path, then the Aila Mountain Pass would become their burial ground.

Unlike the Horned Bee Beasts and Gargoyles that he needed to instruct himself, the Evil Eye Tyrant and Tarantula King had a certain level of intelligence and could flexibly instruct their respective armies to adapt to various situations. They were the true main forces of this battle.

The Magical Beast army with their powerful attacks, Casey’s eight hundred warriors, and the natural threat that was the Aila Mountain Pass—Yang Ling believed that he would definitely be able to withstand the attacks of the Banto army. If the forces could cooperate with each other seamlessly and were given the right instructions, he might even be able to seize the opportunity and launch a counterattack, inflicting heavy casualties on the Banto army.

After making the necessary preparations, Yang Ling left quickly on his Unicorn. There were only about two hundred warriors left in Wissen Town, and its defenses were lacking. It would be extremely dangerous if the troops and adventurers with ill intentions learned about this.

Indeed, after returning to Wissen Town, he noticed that there were many people crowding in front of Wissen Castle. There were troops howling at the top of their lungs, as well as furious townspeople. The situation was chaotic.

After recalling the Unicorn and secretly entering Wissen Castle, Yang Ling quickly looked for Argus who was responsible for the castle’s defenses. He soon got the gist of the situation.

It turned out that while the people had not dared investigate the roaring sounds of battle last night, they had all tried to find out what had happened first thing in the morning. They all swarmed toward Wissen Town after learning that the Banto soldiers had been exterminated, and the violent, arrogant leader Steve had been captured. They were requesting that Steve be publicly executed immediately.

Execute Steve in public?

Faced with the furious townspeople, as well as the troops and adventurers who desired to see the world in chaos, Argus began to sweat profusely. But Yang Ling came up with a plan to take advantage of the situation.

“Argus, get Steve out here!” Resummoning the Unicorn, Yang Ling mounted it quickly.

“Yes!” Wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead, Argus left quickly with a few warriors.

Seeing Yang Ling appear on the castle wall on his Unicorn, the people became much quieter. The troops that wished to see the world in chaos hid within the crowd like cowards. Yang Ling was not one to espouse justice and morals, and they did not wish to get electrocuted into ashes for crossing him.

After a moment’s silence, the people once again broke into a commotion when they saw Argus bringing Steve out.

“Oh Yiblis, kill him!”

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“Hang him on a tree and flog his corpse for three days before tossing it to the forest to feed the wolves!”

…

Thinking back to Steve’s violence and arrogance, thinking back to the violence of the Black Armor Guards, the people were furious. If not for the castle wall being tall enough, Steve might have been crushed to death by the pebbles thrown by the crowd. He might even have been drowned alive by the saliva of the people.

“Sir Leader, all of my troops have been sent to deal with the Rossi forces. Now the townspeople and troops are taking advantage of this and surrounding the castle, requesting that I hand you over immediately. I truly have no other choice, my apologies!”

Looking at the pale Steve, Yang Ling pretended to shake his head in frustration. Giving Steve a strong blow and scaring him half to death was the only way to make him obediently follow Yang Ling’s plan. This was a good opportunity for him to make use of the fury of the townspeople.

Looking at the furious townspeople, then looking at the troops flailing their weapons, the pale Steve swallowed with difficulty. As he was being detained in Wissen Castle, he had held on to the wild hope that Yang Ling would consider the fact that Steve had bestowed land upon him and try his best to fight back the Rossi soldiers and ensure his safety. But it looked like the situation was very dire.

“Brot… Brother Yang Ling, why not gather all of your troops back to defend Wissen Castle? As long as you can last until the Banto reinforcements arrive, everything would be easy!” Thinking about the ten thousand reinforcements on the way, Steve seemed to have grabbed onto a life-saving rope.

“Sir Leader, the situation is worse than you think. The Rossi people have already sent an army and sealed the Aila Mountain Pass!” Shaking his head, Yang Ling let out a heavy sigh and said, “I lost a few hundred warriors attempting to defend the pass. But unfortunately, I was unable to do anything!”

The Rossi Empire sent an army to seal the Aila Mountain Pass?

Steve shuddered. He could not find words for the longest time, as if he had been hit by a hammer. The fear of death was grabbing him by the throat like a demon. His legs shivered uncontrollably.

He did not want to die!

In the capital, he had a bunch of servants, countless fiercely loyal warriors, parents who would accede to his every request, innumerable beauties and good wine… He was incredibly regretful, regretful that he had rushed to Wissen Town with only three thousand warriors, regretful that he had ignorantly accepted the mission to occupy Wissen Town, regretful…

“Kill him, kill him…”

“Oh Yiblis, I’ll crush you, demon!”

…

Looking at the pale Steve, the people became more and more furious, some shouting loudly while others looked for stones around them. If Yang Ling hadn’t been there, Argus was sure that the furious townspeople would have immediately begun shooting arrows towards Steve.

In his daze, Steve remained motionless until a stone bounced off his forehead. His blood flowed incessantly as his body trembled.

“Brother Yang Ling, you have to save me! As long as I can return to the Banto Empire alive, crystal coins, beauties, the position of Earl… I’ll give you anything you want!” Steve swallowed with difficulty, grasping at any hope he had of salvation.

Anything I want?

Yang Ling let out a handsome smile. He looked at the pale, helpless Steve, then at the furious townspeople, then at the vast mountain ranges. “I do not want beauties, nor do I want the position of Earl. I want… The entire town of Wissen!”

Steve trembled. He could instinctively sense a scheme when he looked at Yang Ling and his cold smile. Steve was arrogant and accustomed to doing whatever he wanted, but he was not stupid.

As Steve looked at him in surprise, Yang Ling said calmly, “The Rossi soldiers have set up a strong ambush in the Aila Mountain Pass. Your reinforcements would suffer heavy casualties even if they managed to avert the crisis, and they would be unable to control the situation in Wissen Town. In other words, you have already completely failed in your mission. Rather than scurrying back to the Banto Empire to receive your punishment, why not cooperate with me and work out a deal!”

Steve was a little confused, not understanding what Yang Ling meant. But he knew that Yang Ling was far more crafty than he had imagined. Even if Yang Ling had not secretly interfered in his conflict with the Rossi soldiers, the man definitely hadn’t assisted Steve to the best of his abilities.

“My proposal is simple. I need to control an independent land in order to prove to my family that my training was a success. Now that you have failed your mission, you will also need a reasonable excuse to escape the wrath of your king!” Yang Ling paused, then continued, “The reason your king wants to occupy Wissen Town is due to the rich resources in Terras Forest. As long as you can give him a large, stable supply of resources like Magical Beast Essence Crystals, timber, and minerals, I believe that you will not only convince the king to overlook your mistakes, you might even receive incredible rewards!”

A large, stable supply of resources?

Originally, Steve had been worried about how he could hide his mistake after returning to the Banto Empire. When he heard Yang Ling’s proposal, he couldn’t hide the gleam in his eyes. But after thinking about it more closely, he still felt as though something was off.