Chapter 1553: Chapter 1553
The influx of war refugees turned this already lawless port city into a more chaotic mess, with fights and gang battles becoming commonplace scenes.
The arrival of the Komeer Kingdom fleet carrying a large amount of food instantly set this small city of ten thousand people on fire, and everyone spread the word.
"The grain fleet has arrived; the grain ships from across the Sea of Fallen Stars. They have dozens of merchant ships and warships, stretching as far as the eye can see, with a deep draft. It’s said all that’s loaded are grains."
"What’s the use of bringing in more grain? Those heartless merchants won’t hand out any grain to us for free. Either you work as labor for them, or pay with true gold and silver. They charge an outrageous price of two gold coins per kilogram of grain. Why don’t they just rob us?"
"They are already robbing us. What’s held at our throats isn’t the knife or sword, but our shriveled stomachs."
"It’s different, different this time. The banners on those warships aren’t Sambia’s Silver Crows, but the Komeer Kingdom’s Purple Dragons, a knightly kingdom from legend. Their king issued a royal speech to all of Felen, rallying a Felen Allied Forces to and resist the Tukan People’s invasion."
"Ha, it’s all the same. Just wait and see. They’re all a bunch of greedy people who will surely sell the grain at sky-high prices..." Orıginal content can be found at 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍
"A recruitment notice has been posted. They need a lot of stevedores to assist with cargo loading and unloading. The pay is one kilogram of grain for unloading one ton."
"What are we waiting for? Hurry and sign up, or we won’t get a share if we’re late."
"Going now is probably too late. The loading and unloading work has always been controlled by those gangs."
"How will you know if you don’t try? With our build, unloading ten to twenty tons a day is no problem. With these ten to twenty kilograms of grain, plus some wild vegetables and game, a family of five wouldn’t have to be hungry for ten days to half a month."
A multitude of Usmer people swarmed towards the docks.
Like all port cities, Usmer has two core industries: near-sea trade fishing and unloading cargo for merchants coming and going.
The former is an industry local Usmer people with the necessary tools can engage in, requiring high skills.
The latter is a favorite among war refugees because it only has one requirement: having strength.
It sounds nice, as if all the youths and adults can enter this industry.
But the reality is far from so promising.
Wherever there is a crowd, there is bound to be control.
When the formal ruling class is inactive, it’s a time when all kinds of gangs and unions prevail, and the City of Usmer is such a case.
All large and small industries here are controlled by these gangs and unions, and the coveted loading and unloading work is no exception.
The stevedores who came after hearing the news had no chance to approach the dock, being blocked by a large number of armed thugs. Facing the glaring weapons, the stevedores dared not speak out and opposed these were members of the Brotherhood of Sword Spike.
The largest gang in the City of Usmer, they not only firmly control all loading and unloading work in the city (every stevedore is required to turn over one-third of their earnings to this gang) but also control all trade with the Kingdom of Imbutu, and since their core members are from Imbutu, there are speculations, naturally, that they are supported by Imbutu Kingdom’s elites.
Such a situation means the Brotherhood of Sword Spike is leveraging this as a bargaining chip to negotiate, trying to extract more benefits from the opposing party. As for these benefits, they have nothing to do with these stevedores.
"Not a single person came to apply for the stevedore position?" Gaven frowned, "This is a display of intimidation against us!"
Bede, used to such situations, replied, "This kind of work is usually controlled by local gangs, and our direct offer to recruit stevedores has already touched on their interests. They definitely won’t sit idly by and are using this method to declare their sovereignty, waiting for us to approach them voluntarily."
Like an iron can, the Hobgoblin Giant standing behind Gaven grinned and spoke in a muffled voice, "Lord, give me a squad and half a day, I promise the gangs in this city, no matter what we want, they will cry and scramble to deliver it to us."
The party didn’t utter a single bloody word, yet the overwhelming smell of blood threatened to engulf Bede, compelling him to step further away from this killing spirit while advisingly saying: "Absolutely not, don’t misunderstand, General Thomas, I’m not questioning your strength, but these local snakes often have complicated entanglements with surrounding forces. Even if we forcibly subdue them with force, the repercussions would be endless.
Who knows if one day the warehouses we’re renting will catch fire, or our people will be assassinated.
Especially this Brotherhood of Sword Spike, they obviously have countless links with the Kingdom of Imbutu, and this kingdom is a potential ally of ours. Offending them now is not a wise choice.
It’s better for me to come forward and negotiate with them to see what demands they propose first."
Thomas sneered and said: "It’s precisely because of this, they deserve to die even more, we came to save them, not only are they not actively cooperating but are secretly tripping us up.