14 The Conqueror's Map

10 days passed quickly, during this time Max continued daily training in the Virtual Map along with his troops. The result of this was that his level had risen to 13 and the level of his weapon to 8, while the average level of troops had risen to 7 except the siege which was still stuck at level 1 since they had no opportunity in the training battle and Alexanders level had increased to 10.

At level 10 Alexander learned a new skill he could now form an elite regiment of 10 units out of the troops. The units in these elite troops would enjoy double buff and half the experience required to reach the next level. He formed the elite unit and called them Companion and choose their motto as "Upon The Conduct Of Each Depends The Fate Of All."

During this time Max had also amassed a lot of resources.

While Max was training the crossbow technology had also been finished researching.

Now Max could buy these weapons at the city's blacksmith store. Max had immediately chosen to buy the crossbows and equipped every soldier except the archers with a crossbow. This had cost a lot of gold to the point that even Alexander was concerned about whether to equip the troops with such expensive weapons but Max assured him that they must keep their weapons upgrading if they wanted to maintain an edge.

However even the soldiers were no used to the crossbow and were being trained by both Max and Alexander in the use of the crossbow since they both would have at least level 1 in all weapons. The troops quickly adopted the crossbow since it was a very easy weapon to use, in some ways it could be considered the most primitive form a gun since it also basically functioned as a projectile weapon. Now even the melee units had become much more lethal.

Max had chosen to research improved saddle technology next and it would take 10 days to research.

Also, in the last 2-3 days, the patrol units had reported an increased number of animal sighting including some wolves and bears, to calm the citizens the soldiers had to accompany them while they were harvesting wood and Max was informed that if they did not investigate this the animals may soon attack the city as the winter grew harsher.

For this, Max finally decided today to first decided to upgrade all the city walls from level 2 to level 6 and the gates to level 5. This had pretty much emptied out the treasury in fact in the end he only had 100 gold coins left and had a red alert on his device telling him that he could no cover his daily expenses. Therefore because of this, he had to instantly do some training in the virtual map and he also some items to get the treasury up to 1,000 golds. After which Max relaxed a bit.

When Max was selling things from his inventory he saw that there was something named grow anywhere seeds in there, he had forgotten about this, after all, he had been too busy the day he bought the seeds. So, he took out the seeds and read their information and their usage. The seeds were a system item. The seeds were not of a specific plant but rather the host could choose whatever crop he wanted they would become the seeds of that crops, but they could not be changed once selected.

The crops that came out of these seeds would never die as long as they were given water and could grow in any kind of weather. The harvest from these crops could then be used as seeds but would not possess the ability to grow anywhere.

Max had bought 10 packets of seeds which were enough to plant on 4 hectares (10 acres) of land. He decided to make them half potatoes and half spinach. Max had decided on these plants after a lot of consideration, like how they would survive the climate after all only the initial crops were weather-resistant the seeds from these plants would not be and he would have to think of the future. That's why spinach and potatoes could grow anywhere, were nutritious, and had high caloric value. Spinach could even grow in temperature as low as 0 degrees F and what could he say about potatoes, if Matt Damon could grow them on Mars he could certainly grow them here.

Therefore, Max called Chanakya and told him about the seeds. He told Chanakya to began the process of land reclamation and asked how long would it take. Chanakya said that they had only 15 citizens available with them since the other 15 citizens had gone to the university. Therefore it may take a little while. Although a little disappointed Max told him to immediately began the work on land reclamation and inform him as soon the work was done.

Max started thinking about the university, the decision to put citizens there had really paid off, the citizens had already started learning the basics of their respectable professions, a citizen studying blacksmithing had even made a shield, and even though it was a very low-quality product that Max could shatter in one strike it was a step considering he had only learned for 10 days.

But the most progress making students were that of the reading and writing courses, they had already started writing legends about him in their own free time and started conducting gathering in the open space in the city where they would read his legends to all the citizens and started preaching to them about his life. This was already having an effect the citizens had started treating Max with more and more respect every day and now we're not even surprised by Max's action.

In fact when they saw the new walls and the gate that Max had upgraded, they were not shocked at all, in fact they just started praising him and saying how great he was. This would eventually help Max maintain control and the loyalty of the citizens.

After this map opened the system and choose the Conquerors map for the first time. A window appeared in front of him asking what troops of his he wanted to take into battle. Max choose all the troops and pressed confirm.

Max had transported from the meeting hall to the battlefield, Alexander came and greeted Max.

This battle was not like training battles, these battles were almost the same as real-life battles, the enemy would not just charge it could react to Max's army in many different ways, they could defend their stronghold and use a strategy of starving the enemy, conduct raids or launch a full-frontal assault, it depended.

Therefore the battles in this map could last from days to weeks to months.

Max and Alexander went into the commander's tent and started drawing strategies for attacking. The city had level 2 walls therefore they had to use the siege units. The enemy forces ranged from anywhere between 20 to 50, they had not performed due to the lack of any intelligence units on their part.

They decided that the best plan forward would be first to launch an expeditionary attack and gauge the strength of the enemy by that battle. Thus Max and Alexander along with the Companion went in front of the enemy city. As they approached. An arrow was fired right in front of Max and the archer from atop the wall yelled "Stop right there".

Then the gates of the city opened and the ruler of the city along with a force of 4 cavalry and 2 archers and 2 infantry came out of the city.

"Who are you and why have you come to suddenly attack our city." said the ruler

"We have come here to take your city, surrender now and I shall show mercy to your people," said Max

"What did you say, do you think we are scared of your empty threats, you have till sunset to withdraw or we shall crush you with all the might of our city"

Max realized that there was no point in talking to the ruler, so he suddenly took out a crossbow and shot the king right in the chest

Everything went chill for a second and then the chaos began, Alexander instantly came in front of Max and covered him with his shield and yelled "troops withdraw, we have to protect the king with our lives"

The archers on top of the city started shooting an arrow at Max and Cavalry that came with the ruler started pursuing Max and meanwhile the enemy infantry took the dead body of the king inside the city gates.

After some fighting, the troops managed to kill the pursuing cavalry, but during the archers arrow and the battle one unit of the Companion's was killed.

Max sat in the commander's tent, meanwhile, Alexander was standing in front of him, making a face like he was extremely angry but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Sir, forgive me but today your actions were extremely reckless, you have shown immaturity that I did not expect out of you, I am sorry to say this but I am extremely disappointed in you," said Alexander

It looked like Max would explain himself, after all, it looked like even Alexander the great was a slave to tradition

"Tell me, Alexander, exactly what are you angry at," said Max

"My lord, you just killed the ruler of the city right in front of you, we were still having discussions and you killed him without even a warning or even saying something," said Alexander

"Then tell me something, wasn't our ultimate goal to kill the ruler and take over the city, it was clear that he would not surrender therefore I made the most practical decision and won us instant victory, currently their city is without a ruler, their army in chaos, if we attack them tomorrow we can easily take their city, so what have I done wrong," said Max

Alexander was stunned by this and did not know what to say but still he continued

"But my lord you killed the king while we were in a parley, you did not even give him a chance to defend himself, the ancient scholars have written that a king cannot kill a king when he is not in battle, we must follow their teachings"

Max suddenly stood up and started speaking a louder voice

"Fuck the wisdom of the ancients and the teachings of the scholars, were they, generals. No. , are they here now on this battlefield, No then why should I follow their teachings, what did they even knew in their time. Today we have lost 1 soldier today, and in tomorrow's battle we may not lose any, if we would have followed the so-called teachings of the scholars then we would have lost who knows how many soldiers by fighting them in the battlefield, or have you grown so conceited by fighting barbarians for the last month that you think that you could have won without any losses, answer me"

Alexander hesitated a little "But my lord, they would have died honorably"

"Honour, what is honor worth, does it mean letting soldiers getting killed when they could give, this meaning of honor you have constructed in your head, do you even value the life of the soldiers, have you ever asked them are they willing to die for your honor"

While speaking Max suddenly stopped and got up and went outside the tent and yelled for all the soldiers to gather. Alexander followed Max. When all the soldiers had gathered outside Max started saying

"How many of you think that I behaved recklessly today"

Everybody looked down

Max yelled

"How many of you think I behaved recklessly today, answer your king commands you"

Someone from the crowd muttered, I think that the king behaved recklessly today and soon some more joined him

"Good, at least you have some courage left, then tell me why do you think that," said Max

"You killed their ruler in cold blood, my lord, you did not give him even a chance to defend himself, that was dishonorable," said, someone

"Good, then tell me something when we would have met them on the battlefield will you give them a chance to defend every time they attack, you would not, then what did I do wrong. You may say then that that will be the battlefield this was not, but let me tell you if we would have met them on the battlefield many of you would have died in battle, would you accept that"

He continued

"For what your so-called honor, what is your honor, its thing that cruel kings made up so that their soldiers would not kill them, it's a thing worthless humans made so that they could justify the cruelty they inflicted, I have no need for such honor, I have no need for such honor, I only have my duty, my duty, my duty towards my kingdom and duty towards my citizens, and that duty tells me only one thing to make your life as better as I can, therefore I have no need for such honor which prevents me from doing my duty, I have no need for such honor that makes him sacrifice, my precious troops for nothing. Tell me do you need some honor that requires you to kill yourself for nothing"

"NO" yelled the crowd in unison

"Then, I would say fuck honor, I only ask one thing of you loyalty, as long as you give me your loyalty I will carry out my duty even if I have to sell my soul in order to do that."

"Yes, Fuck honor, Long live the king" shouted one of the men

And soon all the man started shouting in unison "Fuck honor, Long live the king"

As they continued shouting Max dispersed them, and went inside the commander's tent, Alexander followed behind him.

Max sat down on the chair and said "Tell me, Alexander do you still think that what I did was wrong"

"Sir, although I am convinced your justification of your actions, I still don't think you should have done that," said Alexander

"Oh, tell me why"

"First, of all my lord, the citizens of the city would resent you and would be hard to rule, they might even rebel in the future, Second, due to our actions today other rulers will despise us and may even refuse to talk or meet with us in future," said Alexander

"Good, at least now you are bringing logical arguments instead of bullshit antiquated ideas. Then let me answer you, for your first point, No, I don't think the citizens would resent, who would resent us the people that are in power currently and who we would replace when we take over, in fact it has been proven that people do not give a shit who rules them as long as they have enough to eat and they are living a decent life. While we kings like to think that we are so important and the world would fell apart if there are no kings, it is not true, a king does not matter."

He continued

"As long as we give them a better life they will not care, however, I will acknowledge that there is a chance that the ruler was an extraordinarily benevolent ruler, in which case we might face a little resistance, in which case I will take responsibility and even then the cost to suppress that resistance would be minimal when compared to the protracted war. In fact to make sure our rule is peaceful we shall kill every single person in power in the city and don't spare their families either, but make sure to do it very quietly. This city is practically as small as a town, therefore, we can run it relatively easily"

"Now, for your second point, as far the other rulers are concerned they can go fuck themselves, remember this is the conqueror's map and the only reason we are here is to make colonies out of these cities. We cannot form trade relations with them, neither can we form treaties, the only thing we can do is to conqueror and remember this is just the way we will operate in this map, when we go into the real world we cannot behave like that. There we will have to be more tact"

"Also I intend to treat the different cities as the basis for experimenting with different political philosophies and actions and they use the ones that work and discard the ones that don't.

If you think that's cruel, remember mercy if, for the gods to show, we humans have a deal with the reality we are given"

Alexander was extremely impressed by this point, although not fully convinced by the king's action, he at least now knew the way the king thought, he was even impressed by the foresight, maturity, and knowledge he had shown this was far above even Aristotle. And even he agreed now fuck honor, the only thing that mattered were his troops and the life of the citizens and as long as the king gave that he would always follow the king.

Max slept in the commander's tent after he had made some plans for tomorrow.

Notes-

Date- 6th December

Day- 36

City- Reinhardt

Resources-:

Food- 1,000 units

Wood- 4,000 units

Gold- 1,000 coins

Daily Maintenance- 790 gold coins (190 Military units, 100 Lord's Staff, Research Budget)

Citizens- 30

Troops- 30(7 Infantry, 8 Archer,3Raiders,2 Ballista,9 Cavalry and 1 General)

Link for the new novel-

https://www.webnovel.com/book/12300836105222205/Business-King-Of-Two-Worlds

(Please give it a read, it would mean a lot)