Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 771 - 12: Enthusiasm

In recent days, alongside the rebellion of the old nobility in the Royal Capital, the entire Royal City has fallen into a state of chaos.

The upper-level rebellion has nearly lost control of the lower-order order.

Taking advantage of the time the rebels besieged the Royal Palace, thieves and ruffians in the slums began to assault the order of the Royal City, taking advantage of the situation to loot, making the Royal City even more chaotic.

At the same time, the external threat of war caused a large influx of war refugees heading south.

A large number of people flooded into the Royal City.

This made the chaos within the Royal City even more intense.

The arrival of the Blue Dragon Kingdom’s army easily suppressed and eradicated the rebellion within the Royal City, took over the city defense, and assumed the highest authority from the King.

However, due to the previous turmoil,

at this moment, the Royal City is teeming with war refugees and drifters, various opportunistic bandits disrupting the city’s order, causing trouble for the already small Blue Dragon Kingdom army.

It was not until the second day after the Blue Dragon Legion took control of the city that certain districts of the Royal City still had thick smoke rising, as evidence.

Fortunately, the troops involved in this operation were the elite of the elite.

From previous wartime experiences, the Blue Dragon Kingdom’s officers were already extremely experienced in military governance and maintaining stability in occupied cities.

Thus,

after occupying the Royal City and assuming the highest power, the Blue Dragon Kingdom military first reorganized the chaotic forces within the city, relying on the army’s assistance to strike at the rioters and execute martial law across the Royal City, reining in the impoverished and drifting populace.

In just one morning, the entire Royal City had calmed down.

But it did not end there.

Although the chaos had been quelled, the large groups of refugees fleeing the war in the city still suffered from food shortages, with the poor populace comprising more than half the entire Royal City. Additionally, more refugees and drifters continued to pour in. Without proper management, a new layer of unrest was sure to arise.

Thus, the Blue Dragon Kingdom implemented its accustomed policy for newly occupied territories of opening granaries and substituting relief work for food.

By confiscating the estates of several rebellious nobles, along with grain from the national treasury, Blue Dragon Kingdom’s General Gory quickly pacified the unrest within the Royal City.

The large group of destitute refugees who had fled into the city also received generally reasonable resettlement.

It was against this backdrop that Old Xi En’s family entered the Royal City.

And thereafter, they were suitably settled.

In this process,

Old Xi En felt somewhat overwhelmed by favor, as he was allocated to a separate camp for the elderly and weak due to leading two small children, required only to perform some exceedingly simple tasks to receive free distribution of food by the authorities.

This almost turned Old Xi En’s decades-long worldview upside down.

In this world, whether noble lords or the ruling class, they regarded commoners as insignificant as weeds. During years of famine, reducing even a bit of land tax was exceedingly benevolent, let alone considering the plights of those lower-class drifters and refugees?

The first time he saw the Beastman faces of the Blue Dragon Legion, Old Xi En was a bit apprehensive.

However, soon after learning about information concerning the remote southern region’s country from well-informed passersby, all his worries disappeared.

Despite the Duchy of Kaoof being located at the southwestern edge of the Seta Continent, with its territory full of hills and mountains, making transportation extremely challenging and far from the Civilized World,

due to traveling merchants and minstrels’ dissemination, some informed people always existed.

In their current life, they not only faced oppression from the noble lords above but also had to endure the occasional raids by the Red Dragon Empire, naturally longing for the legendary Blue Dragon Realm in the south.

Life was extremely difficult.

They had long wanted to change this difficult life.

And after the Blue Dragon Kingdom’s Legion garrisoned in the Royal City,

their actions did not disappoint these vast lower-class people, making many believe even more in the rumors concerning the Blue Dragon Kingdom.

The people’s hearts swiftly rallied.

Thus, the tumult in the Royal City subsided quickly.

Moreover, countless civilians, encouraged and spirited, proactively volunteered for patrol tasks and eagerly participated in the city’s defense construction.

The Blue Dragon Kingdom’s Legion,

merely with simple relief measures, conquered the vast ordinary populace.

The suffering civilians had simple thoughts: as long as they repelled the invading monster army of the Red Dragon Empire, they would become subjects under the Blue Dragon Kingdom. Henceforth, farming would only require a tenth of the land tax, ensuring subsistence, and in years of famine, they wouldn’t be displaced, receiving aid from the official government.

The promising future allowed General Gory to quickly gather a militia in the Royal City.

While maintaining stability, the spirited inclination of the populous made the Royal City fortified like an iron barrel in just a few days.

Even though Gory had no plans to send these enthusiastic militias composed of lower-class civilians to the battlefield,

their enthusiasm conveyed a keen desire to join the battlefield and drive out invaders, felt from their responses.

The high spirits also brought considerable stability to Commander Gory’s heart.

Although these gathered militias were not regular troops, they infused more confidence in defending Kaoof Royal City.

All of this,

couldn’t have been achieved without the Blue Dragon Kingdom’s ongoing promotion of its advantages over the years, the kingdom’s tangible efforts to seek welfare for the lower-class civilians, and the stark contrast provided by the poor medieval feudal noble governance system in this damn world.

Compared to their substandard living conditions, when juxtaposed with the beautiful life on Blue Dragon Kingdom’s homeland,

everyone understood the choice to make.

Just at this time,

as Western Conquest General Gory led Hu Xia’s elite army in taking over the Royal City’s governance, requisitioning the city’s forces, recruiting numerous civilians to form militias, establishing a composite army exceeding 30,000 within the city, and further fortifying the city defenses,

at this moment,

the Red Dragon Empire’s monster army, which had swept through many rural regions on the outskirts, finally arrived late in the process,

advancing towards the Royal City!