CHAPTER 325: Lack Of Manpower

The clouds were a fiery red in the sunset, and a refreshing breeze blew happily through the hearts of the people. All the potholes and scars in Brettel City had been repaired during this period of repair.

Two huge magic crystal cannons were stationed at the main gates of the city. They glowed a faint red halo in the setting sun, seemingly ready to spew out enormous flames at any moment.

Helen Tina was standing outside the city gates, having been forced to sign the contract. She looked up at the two magic crystal cannons that had originally belonged to her and wasn't sure what to feel. Han Shuo stood on the city walls, smiling happily as he held the contract aloft and waved goodbye, "Dear honourable Duke Helen Tina, we won't be seeing you off."

Helen Tina inwardly cursed eighteen generations of Han Shuo's ancestors. However, she was worried about the rebellion that could break out in her Helon Duchy at any time. After regaining her mental strength, she slowly floated up using her levitation skills. Her glowing eyes glared fiercely at Han Shuo as she gritted her teeth and lowered her voice, "Greedy evil demon, I'll definitely be back for revenge!"

"Have a safe journey. Remember to pay back the gold coins you owe me in three months!" Han Shuo beamed radiantly, waving the contract in his hand as if to tell Helen Tina not to try to weasel out of her debt.

"Hmph!" Helen Tina turned her head in anger. She transformed into a fiery shadow that slowly flew in the direction of Helon Duchy. The fiery shadow looked like a rainbow on the horizon under the setting sun.

"My master is truly too evil. Not only did he take this poisonous beauty, he also took a huge amount of gold coins. He really eats people to the bone!" Chester shook his head emotionally, his eyes full of adoration for Han Shuo.

"I didn't think Helen Tina was so beautiful, no wonder Benedict of the Duchy of Narsen is so obsessed with her. Too bad, too bad. He certainly didn't expect our lord to be one step ahead of him and pluck this flower! Dick laughed at the pain of others, and speculated wickedly about how ugly the situation would be when Benedict found out.

"Your Lordship, I think that Helen Tina, with her wickedness, won't be willing to let this go once she's gone. Hmph, if she spreads the news about our Brettel City extorting four hundred thousand gold coins from her, I think it will arouse the greed of the seven grand duchies." Faulke approached Han Shuo and said worriedly as he watched Helen Tina leave.

Han Shuo looked at the red clouds spreading across the sky and frowned silently for a moment. Then he glanced at the blurry outlines of the mountain ranges around Brettel City. He said to Dick, "Dick, send people to the surrounding mountains, ask the leaders of the mountain tribes to visit Brettel City. Just tell them that I am inviting them for a meal.

"My Lord, because the former city lords were all incompetent and mediocre leaders, they couldn't help the mountain people resist the bandits. As a result, the mountain people have never had a good impression of the city lord, let alone respect for him. I can tell them the news, but I'm afraid they won't come out of contempt. Dick showed a troubled expression and, after some hesitation, explained to Han Shuo.

"Now is different from the past. Fulkin of Mount Tali will surely come. If he informs the others beforehand, the other leaders will know of our strength. I think they'll be willing to come, hehehe. The past is the past, the present is the present. All of Brettel City is my territory, they are all my people. If these people really can't tell good from evil, then I will teach them how to respect a city lord. Han Shuo said to Dick, neither fast nor slow.

Dick nodded his head and promised, "All right, I will definitely inform them.

Dick was also a mountain man. He had already had contact with the people in the surrounding mountains before Han Shuo had arrived in Brettel City, and had even secretly maintained a good relationship with them. Originally, he hadn't had any hope for Han Shuo. Now that he'd seen Han Shuo's knowledge, power, and plans, Dick understood that his stubborn people would definitely suffer a bitter loss if they provoked Han Shuo.

Therefore, as soon as he heard Han Shuo's words, Dick was determined to persuade those stubborn people to come. He didn't want any of them to die at the hands of Han Shuo's undead army.

After Dick left, Han Shuo said to Faulke, "Use the gold coins we have to arm and equip the entire city with everything we've got. War chariots, catapults, oil, goblin missiles, etc. As for the equipment, I have entrusted some merchant guilds to transport it here. What you need to do is instruct the masons to reinforce any weak points in the city walls. Raise them where they aren't high enough.

"Your Lordship, the craftsmen have already increased their overtime to do these things. What we need most now are soldiers with sufficient combat power. Brettel City has suffered many battles with the devastating effects of fire. The total population of our city is only about fifty thousand, which is pitifully small compared to some large cities with millions of inhabitants. The number of young people is even smaller. We have been recruiting men for some time, offering them great temptation, but we have only recruited about two hundred. The number of our people is nowhere near enough!"

"Brettel City is so large that it's simply impossible to protect all four gates with only about three thousand soldiers in the city. Even if we have powerful firepower, we still need people to operate it! If the population problem can't be solved, I think Brettel City will remain in this half-dead atmosphere. Faulke was indeed a knight tempered by the fires of war. It took him just one look to point out what the city lacked most, and what was currently its greatest weakness.

This was truly a difficult problem. Han Shuo also knew that what Brettel City lacked most was people, but he didn't have a proper method to solve it. Brettel City had always been in the midst of war, and it had become a hell on earth due to the number of departing citizens over so many years. Even ordinary citizens from other cities might not be willing to migrate to Brettel City, let alone the natives who had left.

The first thing Han Shuo could do now was to ensure the safety of the city before gradually turning his attention to expanding other aspects. He could then slowly attract people from other cities to settle in Brettel City by providing good security conditions that would be beneficial to its development.

However, this wouldn't be an overnight process, it would take a long transition period. At the very least, the plundering and threats from the Seven Grand Duchies had to stop before Brettel City could slowly prove to outsiders that it was safe. Only then would fear and panic be dispelled.

"Hmmm, I know this is indeed our biggest problem. For the time being, we have no way of attracting new inhabitants. However, as long as we can stop the sacking of the Seven Grand Duchies and spread the word that Brettel City is safe, some of the original inhabitants who miss their hometown might be willing to return. We will tackle this problem from several angles. I think that sooner or later, Brettel City will be much busier.

"First, regarding the shortage of personnel and soldiers, we can start with the mountain people in the surrounding mountains. That's why I've invited them to the town. I heard from Dick that there are thirty, forty thousand of them, of which about ten thousand are capable of fighting. If we can firmly grasp and use this force, in addition to being equipped with six advanced magic crystal cannons and a sturdy city wall, our chances of successfully stopping the invasion of the seven grand duchies will be much higher. Han Shuo had thought about this issue early on. He calmly explained why he had invited the mountain people.

"If my lord has already made careful considerations, then I will say no more. On the other hand, Young Master Lawrence will soon send several talents who know about city and financial management. The military of Brettel City is also on the right track. Faulke said respectfully.

Nodding his head, Han Shuo said noncommittally, "Hm, for now, these things are under your arrangements.

At present, there were hundreds of things waiting to be done in Brettel City. All kinds of talents were in short supply. Lawrence's arrangements of talented military and political personnel would indeed play an important role. However, since they were arranged by Lawrence, it would be difficult to remove them once these military and political talents officially took control.

If this situation was left to develop as it was, if Han Shuo continued to use Lawrence's people, then this subconscious infiltration would slowly turn Brettel City into Lawrence's territory. Han Shuo was now much more mature than in the past and clearly understood this disadvantage. Unfortunately, he didn't have any of his own people to use at the moment. He also couldn't tell if Lawrence's help was out of good intentions or some other purpose. What Han Shuo lacked most at the moment was manpower, so he could only leave things as they were.

However, Han Shuo had begun to think about the future and was seriously considering using his own trusted people. Whether it was developing or discovering these people, neither was an easy matter. With this in mind, he slowly walked back to his room.

For two days, Han Shuo stayed at the city lord's mansion, monitoring the progress of the city's defences during the day and tirelessly practicing demon cultivation and necromancy magic at night. However, breakthroughs in cultivation became more difficult as he progressed, and there weren't many gains to be made in his boring regular day-to-day practice. On the other hand, since his mental strength was at the level of a grand magus, his understanding of necromancy magic was actually progressing rapidly.

Therefore, Han Shuo put more effort into studying necromancy magic. Using the secret chamber in the city lord's mansion, he could easily transport himself to the Cemetery of Death - the most perfect training ground for necromancers. Not only was the stench of death thick here, but this place even had plenty of magic tools and a laboratory. Han Shuo stayed here alone every night and captured some live magical beasts to practice the Soul Tremor spell.

For a demonic practitioner in the separate demon realm like Han Shuo, their souls had become the even more mysterious consciousness that possessed some truly wondrous uses. Based on his study of the soul, in addition to his memory of demonic magic, Han Shuo gradually felt that there was a connection between the understanding of the soul in necromancy and the changes in consciousness in his demonic cultivation.

Specifically, in this realm, the consciousness had the miraculous ability to sense the presence of all creatures in the environment, create illusions and implant magical marks on the soul, and seemed to be able to communicate with the magical elements that existed everywhere in this world. Han Shuo suddenly had a whim to consider if it was possible to integrate demonic cultivation and magical training so that they could complement each other.

However, this wonderful idea was still extremely difficult to implement with Han Shuo's current situation, as his knowledge had not yet reached true proficiency in any field. There would be a long process of exploration if he wanted to master both aspects. It seemed that it wouldn't be possible to use this for a short time.

This spell 'Soul Tremor' used the consciousness to attack the soul of the opponent. Han Shuo had experimented with it on living magical creatures over the past two days. In addition, he had certain reflections in some areas of using the consciousness to attack, and in two days, he had gradually grasped some key parts of this spell.

On the third day, Han Shuo walked out of the Cemetery of Death. Bathing in the warm sunshine, he felt very comfortable. While he was checking on the progress of the city, Dick ran out from an unknown location to Han Shuo's side and respectfully said, "My Lord, I have sent out the invitations according to your orders. The five mountain leaders on the surrounding mountains have all agreed to come to Brettel City seven days later."

Smiling slightly, Han Shuo looked deeply at Dick before finally saying, "Dick, you are also a mountain man. I know you wouldn't let me down if I put you in charge of this."

"But of course. Otherwise, with your methods, all the leaders who didn't come along are bound to have some accidents. I didn't want to become the villain of my people." Dick thought inwardly, his expression still respectful as he said smiling, "My lord has gained the trust of the mountain people after you exterminated the Red Beard bandits. I think they'll come here with hearts full of hope."

"Perhaps with more fear, haha!" Han Shuo laughed heartily with Dick. How could he not know what these people were up to? Dick had said everything that needed to be said, so of course they knew what to do.

"Eh... They are actually a bit scared. Hahaha!" Dick replied with a laugh. He looked into Han Shuo's eyes and felt as if he knew the thoughts in his head. Dick involuntarily felt fear in his heart.