Chapter 423: Raising Military Food

It is late autumn again, and the temperature is gradually getting colder. Fortunately, God has blessed us with a peaceful year, so the crops can have a good harvest.

However, the good harvest did not make Lu Jia feel happy at all. On the contrary, the current situation made him anxious. There were still three days before his southern tour, but the food supply was delayed.

That day, he looked at the long parchment filled with bills, but most of them had not been fulfilled. He kept complaining to the quartermaster below: "We have spent so much time and effort talking, but we can't even persuade a noble. Are they deliberately not giving us food?"

Because in this era, the nobles were rich and had thousands of acres of fertile land, while the poor had no place to live. With a good harvest, the nobles made a lot of money, but if they wanted to get military rations, they had to get their approval. However, after that incident, these nobles seemed unwilling to provide food to the army.

It was the first time that the quartermaster saw the captain get angry. He replied tremblingly, "The nobles seem to be dissatisfied with the fact that Lord Andres failed to deal with the family casualties in a timely manner. Because of Andres's inaction, the nobles claim that they have the right not to provide rations to the army. This is granted to them by Roman law, and they have the right to do so. Unless, unless!"

"Tell me, what conditions do they want?" Luca asked.

The quartermaster was still a little worried. He stammered, "The nobles think that if we double the price, they will be happy to accept it!"

The quartermaster's words instantly calmed the atmosphere in the tent. Everyone was looking at Luca, as if waiting for him to get angry. After all, these nobles were too outrageous. They were blatantly blackmailing and challenging Luca's authority.

Just when everyone was ready to see Luka get angry and smash everything in front of him, what they were waiting for was Luka's long sigh. Yes, no one understood why Luka was like this, he didn't get angry or he held back his anger.

Luca kept rubbing the gem on the scepter tightly in his hand and said, "They just saw that we have no other way now. They are really sinister guys. So, how much do they want?"

"Two thousand pounds of gold," said the quartermaster. "Two thousand pounds of gold, and they will give us enough food."

"Damn it!" Andrew cursed, "They really deserved to die at the hands of the barbarians. We even gave them pensions! But they still did this! Luca, I'll take the army to tear down their houses one by one! Bring out all the food, and if they dare to resist, kill these bastards!"

"Don't, Andrew!" Luca waved his hand at Andrew and said, "If we do what you said, we will not be bandits anymore. If we are reported to the court, Aetius will definitely accuse us of treason and declare my position as captain of soldiers invalid. He will then raise an army to attack me. Then I will lose more than I gain."

"But this is very strange, Luca!" John Anthony said, "When we were discussing the grain issue, the nobles were very willing, but when it came time, they were no longer willing. I don't know why."

Andrew said: "Luga, we don't have so much money. A thousand pounds of gold can support our army for a whole year. We can't just give in so easily!"

"I know! I know!" Luca nodded continuously, frowning, thinking hard for a long time, and then said: "Then there must be some reason for the nobles' change of mind. Antiochus, didn't you investigate?"

"I asked them!" John Antiochus said, "but they just shook their heads and said nothing. They were determined to split the two thousand pounds of gold among themselves. Otherwise, they would not give us food unless we got the money."

"Do they think that all we pulled out is gold? Two thousand pounds, how can they say it so easily!" Andrew stood up suddenly, his eyes widened, his face flushed with anger, his hands tightly grasped the iron sword at his waist, as if he couldn't help but rush to the houses of those nobles and kill them all.

"Andrew! Calm down!" Luca waved his hand again to signal Andrew to sit down, and couldn't help but said with a smile: "Even if we take out these two thousand pounds of gold, they will still change their minds and ask for a higher price. No, there must be someone here, otherwise we really can't get the grain from the nobles."

Everyone asked together: "So, does the soldier have any good ideas?"

"What's the solution?" Luca sneered, and said in a low voice, "Although all signs show that they are now forced into a helpless situation, after all, they were the ones who were unkind first, so you can't blame me for being unjust later!"

Having said that, he held the scepter in both hands and carefully placed it on the table, then called Marenius and John Antiochus and said, "You two should go to the academy in Tarraco now, and tell the students and teachers there very kindly that we are willing to invite students and teachers from the academy to come to our barracks to visit the army and soldiers' equipment for the purpose of cultivating their interests. I am even happy to teach them in person and tell them about my glorious history in Ludugal Gaul and Britannia!"

After Luca finished speaking, everyone immediately understood what he meant. They heard a huge evil laugh in the tent, which made the soldiers passing by look back frequently to find out what was going on.

Since it was a class, he had to show his skills. Luca ordered the Fourth Auxiliary Legion under Marenius to gather in the camp fully armed, because this battle-hardened legion had witnessed Luca's great military exploits, and nothing could be more convincing. Then Luca placed the Dragon Breath Sword on the table and stood it up. This was his trophy.

"Well, what should I say?" Luka began to think hard. After all, Kevin Sean didn't die in his hands. He just stole the Dragon's Breath Sword. But he couldn't just tell the truth. He decided to use his imagination to make up a magnificent and moving history to open the eyes of these ignorant kids! "Haha! In this way, your precious sons are listening to the story in my hands. Let's see if you are panicking!" Luka stared at the Dragon's Breath Sword on the table, with a sinister smile on his face.

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At noon, there was a lot of horse hoof sounds and wheel noises coming from outside the camp gate, and then the guards shouted loudly: "Open the city gate, the observation team is coming!"

"Hey! Fat pig! It's here!" Luga hurriedly stood up from the stool, rubbed his hands, paced back and forth excitedly, not knowing what to do.

(End of this chapter)