"Plant Qin's flags around here, and this territory will be mine from now on!" Qin Yiyi said, hands on her hips, directing the crowd.
"Go check the entrance to the cave and see who's still inside! Get them all out of here. This is where I'm going to plant rice next year. I'll also release some small fish fry in there, and then we'll have rice paddy fish. Once we catch them, the taste is incomparable to any other fish!"
Looking at this new wasteland, the lord has already made plans.
This land belongs to the original territory. The railway tracks are the same as the previous ones, and there are also territorial markings on them, proving that it was built in the previous territory.
In the wasteland world, if a territory wants to connect to the main railway, it must provide its own materials and manpower to build it. It's like building a road connecting a country lane to a highway. The Empire won't provide the funds; if you have the money, you can build it yourself.
The original territory was vast, and the railway tracks not only ran along the wasteland but also through the forest. However, the trees were crisscrossed, making clearing them quite troublesome. It's estimated that they'll have to wait until the peaceful days of spring to deal with it.
The priority now is to deal with this huge wasteland, plant another batch of fast-growing vegetables before winter arrives, pickle them, and store them in the cellar during the winter. The weather is absolutely not going to spoil them.
"Dig down along this opening and see what's down there!"
"Hey! There are signs of more than one person living here. This hole is well dug; it hasn't collapsed even after digging like this. But we need to check if it will affect the farming above!"
"This is practically a miniature underground city!"
Underground, there are rooms divided into different categories, a maze-like tunnel, a living room, a public play area, and a room that is obviously for cubs.
"It looks like a large family lives here!"
A large family? Qin Yiyi's eyes lit up: "Is it the pangolin from a large family?"
She was worried about needing a large number of pangolins to build an underground city beneath her territory. She needed someone knowledgeable who could do it without affecting the surface, while also ensuring good insulation and preventing underground water from seeping in. All of these things needed to be considered, and she needed professionals to do the professional work.
"Found them! It's a bunch of pangolins!"
To be precise, they were pangolin-like half-orcs, huddled together, trembling.
"What are you trying to do?!"
Pangolins' enemies are all wild beasts and birds of prey, but because of their hard shells, most birds of prey don't like to eat them. They survive by eating ants and termites. As half-human, half-animal creatures, they take turns going out to work hard in exchange for low-pollution food. Because of the special nature of their diet, they don't usually fill their stomachs with high-pollution food, so they eat low-pollution food once a week. Hey, that's how they survive.
Then the entire family grew larger and larger, and more than a hundred pangolins were pulled out, along with a litter of babies that were only a month old.
They can freely transform into animal forms and stretch their bodies, so what you see inside the cave are all shrunken pangolins.
"My lord! You were right. There are two pangolins on the other side of the territory coming to see the pangolin that trespassed and was hanging on the fence..."
Someone came to report the news, but when they looked up, they found that there were only pangolins densely packed in front of them.
"What's going on? Have we disturbed the pangolin's nest?!"
The man helping with the clearing whispered, "We really stirred up a hornet's nest! Who knew that this wasteland was full of pangolin enclosures!"
Qin Yiyi stood with her hands on her hips, holding a gold-threaded whip in one hand. She exuded an air of nobility as she looked down at the group of pangolins.
"You have two choices: one is to join my territory and become my slaves, where you will have food as long as you work hard! The other is to move out of my territory immediately!"
The pangolin trembled, but mustered its courage to speak out for itself.
"Lord, you've gone too far! You think you can just clear a piece of wasteland, plant a flag, and claim it as your territory? The Empire has clear regulations: cleared land must be successfully registered before it can be considered your territory. Besides, we are the original inhabitants of this land. Without legal procedures and reasonable relocation compensation, we have the right to live here!"
Qin Yiyi raised an eyebrow. Ha, so he's actually a half-orc with brains.
She was even more satisfied. There weren't many intelligent orcs around these days, and she had actually stumbled upon one! The future of her territory looked promising!
but....
“You’re right. After clearing the land, I have to report the new area of my territory to the Empire. Only after the Empire stamps it can it be considered my territory. But look at the railway tracks next to it. Aren’t they marking my territory?”
The original territory's name is unknown, but its boundaries were marked with symbols and flags of varying sizes. The railway tracks also bear the marks of the original territory, proving that this land has always belonged to Qin. Since building roads independently required reporting, and all lords except those of the Empire could only build roads within their own territories, it can be inferred that the original territory was vast. Two railway tracks have been discovered so far, but they became wasteland after the territory declined and became sparsely populated.
But... this location is still territory.
"You live on my territory, and I haven't made you pay land fees or poll taxes, which is already being merciful! How dare you contradict the lord! It's outrageous!"
Qin Yiyi's eyes darted around.
"Bring these pangolins back to my territory. They haven't paid taxes for so many years, causing me so much loss! They even built their own houses on my wasteland—it's an outrageous crime! I've decided to punish you by making you work for me for thirty years!"
Wow, look at how perfectly she found an excuse to leave the pangolin behind to fight in the dungeon, and she even occupied the moral high ground!
The pangolins sent a representative to check the tracks ahead. Sure enough, there were markings. They huddled together timidly, and more than a hundred pangolins wept bitterly. From now on, they would be slaves!
Being a slave! It means being hungry, cold, and whipped! They know it! They understand! They originally wanted to negotiate for better conditions, but now they might have to work twenty hours a day!
Qin Yiyi, hands on her hips, declared: "From now on, as slaves, you can only work ten hours a day, and eleven hours during your probationary period! You'll only have one hour for lunch break!"
?
"From now on, your job will be to build underground cities. Adult pangolins will be fed three ounces of low-pollution rice per day, and cubs will be fed two ounces of low-pollution rice per day. Don't think that just because you're digging holes and building underground cities, I'll give you more low-pollution food. That's impossible!"
? ?
"As slaves, you will have to pay at least 50% of your medical expenses when you get sick. I will not give you a full reduction or waiver of your medical fees!"
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