Chapter 149: Carthage's Mercenaries

  How much wealth did Carthage really have? This question may not even be clear to the current regent princess of Carthage. For a country like Carthage, where almost half of its citizens are engaged in commerce, the gold coins stored in eight large treasuries were only a tiny fraction of Carthage's wealth.

  To encourage trade, Carthage's business taxes were never high, which allowed a large amount of wealth to be hidden in the hands of wealthy merchants. The wealth controlled by many large financial groups was even comparable to that of the national treasury. Carthage divided its classes based on the amount of wealth and granted these wealthy merchants noble titles and privileges.

  The maritime industry of Carthage was extremely developed, and her merchant ships could be said to be all over the continent. Wherever there were transactions, there would be Carthaginian merchant ships and figures. Carthage developed at the end of the fishing era, when humans explored the navigable routes in the ocean.

  Five hundred years of prosperity had made her subjects extremely wealthy, but also weak to the point where they could no longer fight. Their ancestors had once been able to defeat the Moors with wealth, and now they were being defeated in war by the Moors because of the corrupting influence of that same wealth. The over-reliance on mercenary warfare, as well as the need to be vigilant against slaves at home who could not release too much manpower.

  This has caused the country to not only spit out all the land it had swallowed up 500 years ago, but also face the possibility of being destroyed by Marlo's Caesar. Carthage is facing an unprecedented crisis, which makes Carthage's regent princess Artoria extremely anxious. She will not let go of any opportunity that can make her win, whether it is a self-proclaimed messenger sent by God to save Carthage or the Thundercliff, who has already become the most powerful force in Elan.

  She needs to get any help she can get in order to win this war. So she sends one of her underlings, disguised as an opera troupe, to Thunder Cliff, hoping to sign a secret treaty with the Minotaur who controls everything there. She promises that if Thunder Cliff will send troops to attack Marlo's rear now, she will provide Thunder Cliff with 30,000 olive branch gold coins.

  And if the Thunder Crest performs well, she will also pay out more commissions and rewards. Money is not a problem for Carthage. For Carthage, where even the gods of refuge were replaced by the goddess of wealth 500 years ago, these things are not a burden.

  "It's really a generous condition." Mo Yan looked at the letter in his hand, which had been stuck to his body for an unknown amount of time and still carried a certain fragrance. "Pay three million gold coins with a purity higher than Sart's gold coins by five percent, and get 5,000 gold coins for defeating each Malo legion, plus a bonus of 10,000 gold coins for occupying an important city... Wow, I'm almost tempted."

  "Is there anything else you are not satisfied with?" Pasha adjusted his vest and looked at the Minotaur on the throne: "You know, this is the best condition that Carthage can offer, even for those barbarians who have been employed by Carthage for generations. At most, they can only get 10,000 gold coins, which are paid in installments."

  "Do not compare the Thunder Cliff with those barbarians." The cow man picked up the letter in his hand and looked at Pasha, saying: "Perhaps they seem very powerful to you, but to me, that's just a mess. Lack of discipline, no clear combat goals, and when encountering difficulties, they run faster than anyone else. As for what happened in Carthage recently, I'm not deaf."

  "Is that so?" Pasha's face wore a smile, but his words were far from polite: "But in my opinion, you're not much different. After all, the ones leading your armies are the Sault people. In our Central Plains' understanding, they're just a group of barbarians who only know how to fight, not wage war. I think offering such a high price is already too much."

  Pasha's courteous but contemptuous words made the faces of those who had not left, including Refor and others in the hall, look unsightly. Although they mostly knew how people from the Central Plains viewed them, being told to their faces was a different feeling altogether. If it weren't for the fact that the other party was just a woman, someone as young and hot-headed as Groke would have already drawn his weapon to defend his honor.

  After hearing Pasha's words, Mo Yan didn't get angry because Pasha belittled him. This kind of implicit provocation wouldn't have much effect on him. Moreover, at this good opportunity to brush up his image, he certainly wouldn't let it go and said: "They are all seasoned warriors. Whether or not there will be war is not for you to decide. I've never thought that the Sart people were some kind of barbarians, they also have many things on the entire continent that are worth being proud of."

  "Then prove it to us." Pasha said as she walked along the path she had thought out: "There is an ancient saying on the mainland that in order to verify whether a sword is a good weapon, the only way is to use it to kill the enemy. If the power of Thunder Cliff is worth what Carthage has paid for, then I am willing to apologize to everyone."

  In fact, the conditions offered by Carthage have already moved Mo Yan, although now Thunder Cliff has controlled the entire economy of Elan, with a large number of gold coins entering the account every day. However, the 30,000 olive branch gold coins as a reward, and there are also many bonuses for achieving results, this is an irresistible temptation for any force.

  However, it is clear that the demon's legion cannot leave Eran. According to what Moyan heard from the goddess in his dream, many gods' chosen warriors are now outside of Eran. Even if they were blocked by the goddess's maze and could not advance, they may still be wandering around or stationed outside of Eran.

  If at this time the demon legion dispatched from Erland, it would be no different from sending a gift of heads. Those divine warriors wouldn't care about what kind of good or evil demons these were; in their eyes, dead demons are good demons. If Thundercrag wanted to earn that sum of money, he could only use purely Salterians, or a legion composed of some grey dwarves who weren't too welcome among the surface-dwellers but were barely acceptable.

  "We can accept your employment." After thinking for a while, Mo Yan finally made the decision and said: "But please don't be too happy, although I agreed to your request. However, this does not mean that we will immediately go to war. I need to submit a bill to the Eran New Federation Congress, which is not a small matter."

  Now, Thundercliff has merged with the surrounding small towns to form what Mo Yan called the Elan New Federation. Under Mo Yan's busy work for three months, a rough framework has been established. In Thundercliff, the construction of the Federal Hall, where the council will gather, has already begun. The federal senators elected from various cities have also arrived in Thundercliff.

  Some of these people spent most of their time traveling between cities in the new federation, campaigning and hoping to have a chance at becoming president in five months. Although their wishes were bound to be disappointed, they at least gave them something to think about, so they wouldn't get bored.

  And now this almost unused parliament has become Mo Yan's excuse for delaying time. He can't tell Pasha that his demon legion can't leave Erland now, and the army formed by those Sart people hasn't been trained yet. So he uses the federal parliament to talk about things, and how long it takes is up to him.

  Three months' time has allowed those who can be said to have come from the countryside, members of parliament, to be almost corrupted by the prosperity of Leiting. Although Mo Yan still cannot do what he wants to do now, it is still possible to delay the resolution, and after the training of the Saulte people in the federal army is completed, the parliament will also be completely under his control.

  "How long will that probably take?" Pasha didn't know the answer to Mo Yan's question, and she only roughly understood the democratic system of the Eranian barbarians. Such a troublesome and strange thing was not as good as the monarchical country of Zhongyuan, at least such major decisions would not be delayed.

  "We'll probably need about three months." Mo Yan said, giving a rough estimate of the time: "Although I also want to quickly sign a secret agreement with you, but it's clear that these things aren't up to me to decide, I'm just the temporary president of the Eland New Federation after all."

  The Pasha, having no other choice, could only return to think of a way to convey the message back to Carthage. Three months later, although it was somewhat late, it was not too late either. The girl from the countryside was now leading her slave army in the rear of Maro's battle line, weakening his current offensive, and three months would still be sustainable for Carthage.

  After dealing with this incident, Mo Yan let everyone retreat. He also got up and returned to the office, where two demonesses were already waiting for him, unable to escape from Leiting Cliff due to their foolishness over the past two days, which had accumulated some documents that needed his attention.

  Outside of Thunderhead is the territory of Sault, and even if they escape from Thunderhead, they can only live in the wild caves like savages at first, and also face the pursuit of Thunderhead. It's better to take the punishment directly, after all, flogging may not kill them.

  "It's no wonder you're devils from hell." Mo Yan sat down in his own chair, looking at the two demons who had already processed a large pile of documents while he was talking to Pascha, and said with a smile: "I was thinking that if you chose to escape, what kind of way I would use to execute you, and I even designed a triangular wooden horse with saw teeth in my heart."

  There is still one more chapter tonight~