Doomsday Code

Chapter 872 Responding to Scorn: Elav

Elav's candid attitude caught Chen Cheng off guard, and he also knew that now was not the best time to speak, so he decided to use the previous excuse to brush it off for now.

"Lord of the city, my name is Brown, and my family is from the Hunmo Kingdom. My family also runs a small fur business."

Previously, there was a clan uncle in the North, so the family's fur business was supplied by this clan uncle. However, this time the clan uncle said that the North was dangerous and he no longer had any supplies to provide.

So the reason I came to see the city lord this time is to try and obtain this fur supply from him.

Upon hearing this, Ailaf quickly began to consider the Hunmo Kingdom and the fur trade that Chen Cheng had mentioned.

"You're from the Hunmo Kingdom? That's more than 100,000 miles away from here. I remember visiting your Hunmo Kingdom when I was working at the Executive Yuan. I still vividly remember the river fair held on your Hunmo River."

Honestly, if Chen Cheng hadn't known that his identity was fabricated, and if he hadn't followed the rhythm of Ai Laf's conversation, he would have unknowingly let his guard down.

"I really didn't know that the City Lord knew about our River Association."

Chen Cheng perfectly demonstrated the trepidation of a subordinate towards the concern shown by a superior.

"Although your Mohe River is beautiful, your king told me that your country spends tens of millions of taels of gold every year on river management."

"Without your country's investment in river management, that beautiful and bountiful mother river that sustains hundreds of millions of people in your country could easily unleash its fury and become a raging mother."

Chen Cheng smiled nervously and said:

"That's what the City Lord said."

"Hey, this is how you manage the Hunmo River, and it's the same here."

At this moment, Elav suddenly became sad.

"Do you know why our great kingdoms go to the trouble of sending their elite troops to be stationed here, even though it's a thankless task?"

"Let me tell you, we are stationed here for the sake of the hundreds of billions of people in the inland beyond the North, so that they can live peaceful and happy lives."

"I'm sure you've heard of the Wall in the North, the Great Wall that the Empire built to defend itself."

Many people in the interior believe that His Majesty the First built the Great Wall to stop the savage orcs who were driven to the northern ice plains.

However, what you may not know is that the real purpose of building this Great Wall was to defend against a catastrophe that could destroy the entire world.

In the North, almost every household tells a story: when winter arrives, a black calamity will sweep across the far north, and wherever this calamity passes, all life will be reduced to nothingness.

At this moment, Chen Cheng was extremely shocked. This was the first time he had ever heard of the Black Disaster. However, judging from Ailaf's expression, he probably had no reason to deceive him.

At the same time, in order to get Elav to say more about things that the Northern high command already knew, he also made a good show of the fear that an ordinary person would feel when hearing about secrets.

And at the same time, he spoke somewhat timidly:

"Lord City Lord, this should be considered a military secret. It's best not to tell me."

Elav waved his hand and said:

"This is not a secret, it's just that we can't say it openly in order to reduce the impact, just like the unspoken rules of your business."

However, since I saw you traveled a long way to come here for your family business, I am willing to tell you these things.

I also want to tell you that although I, Ai Laf, am greedy, I haven't squandered my money; instead, I've actually used it to do several practical things.

"Right, where were we? Black Disaster, right?"

"The main target of the Northern Wall's defense is the Black Disaster, which wants to move south. And on the wall is the Northern Wall Army, one of the Empire's five most elite legions in the past."

The imperial capital was destroyed too quickly in that catastrophe, and we have no imperial decree to command the Northern Wall Army; we can only leave them to hold the Wall.

But as time has passed, almost two hundred years have gone by. Even the most elite of the empire's elite forces, the Great Wall Army in the North, without an imperial order to replenish its ranks, how much fighting strength do you think the Great Wall Army still has?

Moreover, since the destruction of the capital, the frequency and intensity of the Black Disasters have been increasing.

"Therefore, the purpose of our major kingdoms sending troops here is to be ready to take over the Northern Wall army at any time and go to the Northern Wall to resist the world-destroying black calamity that may come south at any time."

"And I didn't use the bribes I received for personal extravagance, but instead invested them all in training our Engla garrison."

"Although our Engla Kingdom is known as one of the five great kingdoms, its actual national strength is far inferior to that of the other four kingdoms."

Naturally, the military funds approved for our northern garrison were very limited, and as the garrison commander, my personal wealth was meager, so this was the only way I could think of to raise funds.

"However, even though I, Ai Laf, have accepted bribes, I will absolutely not agree to do anything that violates my principles."

"And I, Love Raff, can say with my hand on my chest that I have a clear conscience about the bribes I received."

Seeing that Elav was getting more and more excited as he spoke, almost like he was going to become a martyr for the revolution, Chen Cheng had to admit that this guy was really a talent.

As for Ailaf's boast that all the money he received as bribes was used to support the army, Chen Cheng simply listened to it.

If that were truly the case, then this city lord wouldn't be sitting here arguing with him; he would have already been executed by King Engla on some random charge.

Do they really think he's a naive fool who's never seen the world? Using money earned through smearing his own name to support the country's army, do they really think Chen Cheng doesn't know Shen Wansan?

He was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang for simply rewarding his soldiers with money, while Ailav was directly raising an army, so he would surely be executed by being cut into a thousand pieces.

Moreover, in the civil service exam videos that Chen Cheng had seen in his previous life, every single one of them appeared approachable and lived a simple life before they were arrested.

Of course, even though he knew it, Chen Cheng still had to show admiration on his face.

"Sigh, I don't expect you to really understand my feelings. Never mind, I've said too much again today."

Let's first tell each other how much of the goods you need, so I can arrange it for you.

Chen Cheng hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a firm look in his eyes:

"After hearing what the city lord said, I was deeply moved and wanted to do my part. So I wanted to go back and calculate again to see how many tens of thousands of horses I could eat at once."

"For this shipment, I'd like to ask for only a small fee to cover the travel expenses; the rest of the profits will be donated to the Northern Army in your name, Lord City Lord."