It had been two weeks since Damon had merged Merula and Ronalla into the new region of Kaduna.
The Lord Ronalla was sitted with three men, they were his allies in the eastern part of the empire.
They were Lord Madi from the city of Madi ,Lord Apams of the city of Apams and finally the owner of the castle which they were in , Lord Gantz of the city of Gantz.
" So the boy bested you, is that what you are saying Ronalla?" Gantz asked twirling the whiskey in his glass , the same whiskey that was produced by Damon.
"I didn't expect him to actually attack and I don't know what kind of long range magic he had but he easily crushed my army , he melted my son and his knights alongside their armor". Ronalla replied.
" So what do we gain from helping you now that you have lost your mines" Apams asked.
" A years worth of free ore shipment from the mines when we have retaken it " Ronalla replied.
This prompted laughter from the three of them. The price was then increased to ten years worth of free ore but after so much haggling , they settled for the price of three years of free ore shipments.
Ronalla wasn't even angry, he knew he would do the same thing or even worse if any of his so called allies fell into the same predicament.
All he needed to do was to bid his time and attack when the time is right.
By now word of Damon's win had spread throughout the eastern regions of the empire.
Duke Abegnog and Prince Tiberius were sitting on the balcony of the Prince sipping wine as they received reports of the events of the battle.
" Your highness, I told you that the kid had great prospects . To be able to defeat the lion of the east and with no previous battle experience."
"Yes you did, he now controls the majority of the mines in the eastern regions, what if he refuses to cooperate. He might feel a little cocky now that he conquered Ronalla without resistance." Tiberius replied.
" You worry too much your highness, I already have a plan where Damon would have no choice but to cooperate.
Back at Kaduna, Damon had already commissioned a road building project to connect Ronalla and Merula. The road was wide enough to contain six carriages side by side. It was also built out of concrete and spanned about seventy five kilometers.
The absorbing of Ronalla was smoother than he expected, as jobs were provided and livable wages were being paid.
The citizens of Ronalla were quite happy with their new situation . But in a city with a population of about twelve thousand people, a few people were bound to try their luck against the system. These people were quickly and quietly eliminated to avoid spreading disent .
The printing press had been successfully produced so propaganda were being released daily.
Messages like progress throughout hardwork, submit to God and he will lift you up,etc.
Stories like the stories of Samson and Delilah, Elijah , Elisha, Solomon, etc were being published daily but the problem was that few people could read as they had no education. The only people who were a little bit educated were the soldiers in the city. He made a mental note to quickly reform the education system.
He also noticed that three hundred soldiers could only be used to maintain order in the city. So in preparation for future conquests and as a defensive measure, he put out a notice announcing that the army would be accepting recruits.
Twenty four hours after the announcement, recruitment centers were flooded with over five thousand people trying to get in the army. Most were the people who participated in the last battle and had seen the power that the army welded and wanted to be part of the overwhelming force.
You see even as citizens of the Everwinter empire, there was no sense of belonging, the nobles just treated the citizens as a tax farm . They hoard the taxes and share it with their families and their supporters whilst doing little for their citizens.
When the citizens of Ronalla saw that Damon was not only providing jobs but also paying fair wages , their trust him skyrocketed. And when the citizens of Merula did not abhore and abuse them but instead welcomed them with open arms,they then finally felt a sense of belonging. Because humans, where ever they are always crave connections .
After the preliminary selection on three thousand men and women remained.
A week later they were off for training and over the course of their training, Damon planned to mould them into effective machines of war.