Bab 182: A Decision
"Do we Claim, Relocate or Absorb Tongpai Town?" Dom asked Subutai, he had his own thoughts but wanted to bounce his ideas of his Commander.
"Tongpai Town is too far from Riverside to be our second Town. We don't have the resource to protect it without stretching our limited resources too thin." Subutai replied, "We need it to defeat the Type 3's, but I don't think we can effectively manage it afterwards, without sacrificing too much of our growth."
"Then should we Absorb it and improve Riverside?" Dom questioned, his opinion similar to Subutai's.
"It is an option, but we are growing at a fast rate already, we also need to substantially increase our population for our next upgrade mission. Personally I think we should relocate it." Subutai countered, "A second Town would support the growth of Riverside, but it needs to be in a location that is manageable and can help us grow. There are a few more local areas that building a secondary Town could help us manage our growth better.
"I was thinking the same thing." Dom agreed, "Riverside is in a good location geographically, but there is so much around us that we could take advantage off, but are restricted by that same geographical location."
"We could build across the River and double the size of Riverside's area for growth, however we could expand there naturally. We could potentially build near the mountain and building a Mining Town, we already have two mines, and with the two we aim to gain from here that would set up a good base for growth. Another option is towards the Sea and work on increasing our naval strength and become a leading Maritime Kingdom or even where our new Military Camp is and have a separate Military Town." Replied Subutai, a bit of excitement in his voice. "Or even amongst the ever growing fields and farmlands for a Farming Town."
Dom nodded his head in agreement. "We have a lot of options for Town's, if anything, we need more Town Token's."
"We have a lot more conquering to do then." Subutai agreed,
"System, I would like to relocate Tongpai Town." Dom announced.
[Relocate has been chosen, The Town Centre will lose it's power and resort to a normal building. A Town Centre Spawning Token has been placed in your personal chest.]
"It seems that we have time to choose where." Dom explained to Subutai, "We have a Town Centre Spawning Token back in Riverside."
"Great, then we just need to collect the other buildings types and see if we can relocate the population as well." Agreed Subutai.
"System, do I have to manually collect the other building cubes, or can this be done automatically?" Dom asked.
[This must be done manually, however can be done by your representative heroes instead of yourself.]
"Thanks system!" Dom replied, before letting Subutai know. They then agreed that Abubakar, Hua Rong and Lu Fang could do it tomorrow, depending on their individual recoveries.
Subutai soon departed and Dom decided he would get some sleep as the exhaustion from the long day had finally hit him, his eyes constantly feeling heavy. He looked in the room beyond and saw the armoured form of Tomoe who was peacefully sleeping on the Imposter Lords bed.
"Where should I sleep?" He questioned himself, he stood up, but his legs felt heavy and the pain in his arm from his earlier wound made him decide that he wasn't going to explore and find an empty room.
He walked to the bedroom and headed towards the other side. The bed was large enough for multiple people and Dom climbed on top of it without disturbing Tomoe.
....
Dom awoke to the noise of shouting from the main corridor, he opened his eyes and climbed out of the surprisingly comfortable bed. He had expected Tomoe to be beside him, but she was already gone. Instead he was alone and saw that his weapons had been cleaned and placed on the desk in the office.
He headed towards them and picked them up, placing his sword in his sheath and carried his slaying spear in his good arm.
"Lord, we have an issue!" Centurion Chen of the Forbidden Guard announced as he entered the room. Chen Lu had dark patches under his eyes and Dom could tell he had been working tirelessly.
"What's the issue?" Dom asked, hoping that the Type 3's hadn't arrived yet.
"Bagoas has disappeared and the guard on his door is unconscious!" Centurion Chen explained.
"Take me there!" Dom exclaimed as they both quickly headed down the corridor of the relatively empty Tongpai Town Centre, except for some Riverside Warriors that were placed here and there as they went through the different rooms and cleared them of valuables and documentation.
They soon arrived at the room that Bagoas had been held in overnight, a Hoplite was collapsed on the floor but still breathing faintly, with a Legionary trying to wake him up. Tomoe was also in the room and she was angrily moving bookshelves and desks around the room.
"Any idea what's happened?" Dom asked in a commanding voice to those in the room as he entered.
"Poison of some kind." The Legionary responded, "He's alive, but I'm not sure for how long."
"I have no idea how he has got out!" Tomoe added, "I can't find a secret passage and no one saw him leave the room."
"Why was the Hoplite in the room" Dom questioned, as he should have been guarding the door outside.
"We'll need him to wake up and tell us that himself." Centurion Chen said angrily.
"If he wakes up." Tomoe added as she continued to make loud noises as she moved things around the office.
Dom looked around the room, noticing a small piece of parchment was lay near the collapsed Hoplite, he bent down and grabbed it. There were many other items pieces of parchment lay around the room, but this one caught Dom's eye due to its placement.
[To the Lord of Riverside
It would have been a great experience to work with you and your leadership, however I feel my chances of survival are small, so I have gone.
Do not worry about your guard, if what I do to him works, he'll easily wake up once you give him some water infused with brewed red leaves from the red leaved flowers in the garden below.
I hope next time out paths cross, it is in better circumstances.
Bagoas]
"Get some red leaves from the red leaved flowers below." Dom told the Legionary, before passing the parchment to Centurion Chen. "It seems he didn't want to wait for my choice."
"Gan Ning won't be happy." Tomoe said as she also read the letter from over Centurion Chen's shoulder.
"I don't think anyone will be, but he can't go far, we have control of Tongpai Town, the Lake and the route towards Riverside. If he flees through the forest, he's very brave." Dom replied.
"Or stupid." Tomoe agreed as they both left the room and headed downstairs and out of the Town Centre.
......
Outside the Town Centre, Xun You was stood, with Gan Ning and the frail Da Qiao. They were flanked by Centurion Pullo and the Second Century, whose entire units armour was somehow clean and shining as they stood straight and seriously. As well as the Legionaries a contingent of Horse Archers was there, their bows in their hands as they looked down at those before them.
In front of Xun You was a large crowd of Tongpai residents, led by a few loud people who were shouting questions towards him. Dom and Tomoe exited the Town Centre and headed through the formation to the front where the heated conversation was taking place.
"That is your choice." Xun You had finished saying.
"So we either leave our homes and move to your town and start again, or we stay here and get killed by an unknown enemy?" One balled villager with a long grey beard said.
"You are the enemy!" Another shouted, a large woman with red cheeks and blackened eyes exclaimed.
"They are not!" Da Qiao announced, "They have destroyed the corrupt leadership that usurped this Town and made you all struggle!"
"Some more than others!" Another villager spat whilst looking at the large woman with red cheeks.
"There are plenty of opportunities in Riverside, and we are in dire need of skills." Xun You continued, "Those that do not with to come to Riverside can go and find somewhere else to go, but you will be on your own as our Warriors are needed here to defeat the enemies that are an enemy to all man!"
The conversations continued whilst Dom nudged Gan Ning for an update.
"Subutai let us know that we were going to relocate Tongpai Town, so it makes no sense to delay the moving of the population if the enemy are coming. He has taken Hua Rong and Lu Fang to collect the Building Cubes, whilst Abubakar is organising our Warriors to remove food and valuables." Gan Ning explained. "Da Qiao wanted to see if she could help, which is why she is here. Guo Sheng has been sent back to Riverside by cart with the injured Warriors from the battles."
"Thanks for catching me up." Dom stated, "I'll take over here, can you head up to the docks and get the ships prepared, I want this Town as a Military Base by the end of the day, or as close as possible. We have a lot of work to do, and very little time. We'll keep an eye on Da Qiao."
Gan Ning agreed reluctantly, before leaving the formation and mounting his horse that was held by one of the Horse Archers. He headed down the main road at pace, flanked by two Archers as the crowd quickly stepped aside to let them pass, with shouts of shock and anger as Gan Ning's horse pushed them away.
Dom walked forwards and stood beside Xun You who seemed please Dom had arrived.
"It's times like these I wish my cousin was here." He stated to Dom quietly, "This is the Civil branches role, not the militaries."
Dom laughed as he and Tomoe, who was beside him, walked forwards to the front of the crowd. Her imposing armour and impressive beauty causing the crowd to grow quiet.
"My name is Lazarus, I am the lord of Riverside and I have claimed Tongpai Town through conquest and the acceptance of its surrender by the surviving leadership. My men could have robbed, murdered, raped and pillaged throughout the evening." Dom announced loudly, using a tone he hadn't used before, but remembering some advice that Shang Yang and Lucius had given him about leading and what to do in this type of situation. "By rights, they would not have been in the wrong to do that. But they didn't, because we came with your safety as the reason for conquest. Tongpai Town will be a battlefield in the coming days, and those that are coming will do much worse than what I have mentioned. I will be honest with you, when we first discovered them, it was by finding a tree made from human remains."
There were gasps in the crowd as Dom made his announcement, he held his hand up for silence as people began to whisper amongst themselves.
"My Commander has been kind with his words, but I won't be." Dom continued. "You have two choices, the first choice is to leave Tongpai Town and join Riverside. The second, death or worse. Go home, pack your valuables and wait for one of Warriors to come and register your house and update you. If you have any disabilities, personal issues or essential needs, there will be a station set up here to track those."
Dom turned and walked back through his lines, winking at Xun You as he did so. Tomoe waited a few more seconds before doing the same thing, however as she passed Da Qiao, she took her by the hand and brought her with her.
The crowd behind erupted in chatter and shouting as Dom headed back inside the Town Centre. He heard the sound of shields being banged, as the Legionaries attempted to shush the crowd.
"Well that told them." Tomoe laughed as they entered the Town Centre again.
Hadiah
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