What did you do with the dice?

This resulted in a shortage of manpower in the Pearl Tear Territory behind Rusalka.

Population is not like crops, which can be harvested after being buried in the soil for a year. Any noble who is ambitious about expansion knows that population is important. Sanita has no intention of playing with the cultivation in this world for decades, so he can only rely on prisoners to increase the population quickly.

Money is like flowing water. If you lose it today, you can earn it again tomorrow. But people are something that you can only steal by fighting. Shouldn't you take the opportunity to capture as many as possible?

This encounter, which was quickly predicted by Rusalka's Crow Mouth, captured three incomplete legions, totaling more than 4,000 people. After being disbanded, they were separated and organized into the prisoner camps of their respective legions and continued to return to Mingyue City.

After the battle, nearly 7,000 prisoners were captured. Sanitieta was worried that if he continued to capture more, the number of prisoners would exceed that of a division. If he could not perfectly disperse and guard them, he would be worried that they would mutiny, which would be a headache - not because he was afraid that they would win, but because mutiny would mean killing many prisoners. Then he returned to the argument just now about the importance of population.

After this endless battle, it took some time to recruit and settle the prisoners. Five days later, when Rusalka returned to the open gate of Mingyue City, she sighed that the battle was finally over.

Rusalka: (We've been fighting for almost two months! It's not even that long for me to lead a regiment on a campaign!)

Sanita: (This is how war works. Otherwise, why do you think Alice City has held out until now? I actually hope the Church of the Seven Sins can hold out a little longer. I hope that the Eastern representative who will fight Alice in the future will be our Grand Duke of Pearl Tears, Rusalka.)

Rusalka: (Now it's fantasy time!)

----

Mengjili's defense of the city was fought beautifully, without exaggeration or understatement. In fact, it was mainly due to the fact that the three major chambers of commerce cooperated without any intrigue, but honestly repaired and even renovated the city defenses.

Mingyue City has been a strategic location since ancient times, and the city defense layout was carefully arranged by successive marquises of the Banner family. If it weren't for the fact that the El Empire's tactic of using the hobbit to airdrop cats was too advanced, it would not have been so difficult to break through. At least Marquis Momola's troops could not break through, and now it can be said that Rusalka got it easy.

Of course, this was also because Marquis Momola underestimated the number of city defense troops in Mingyue City. Mengjili was still quite capable. It was true that the number of his elite city defense troops was not enough to fill the defense line, but the gradient of the defense line arranged by Ying Yishou's strategy was very sophisticated.

At first glance, it seems that all the city walls are fully defended. In fact, the outer walls have been built. The strongest sections of the walls are mixed with a large number of prisoners, militia, and some miscellaneous mercenaries. Those parts that seem to have not been repaired yet are filled by his elite troops.

In this way, the Momola army would always choose to attack the weak points. No one would want to ram their heads against the expected strongest main gate defense. They would always focus on attacking from the small gates on both sides, which would play into Mengjili's hands.

The longer the siege lasted, the more disadvantageous it would be for the attackers. Mengjili also dispatched the ranger troops arranged by Sanita to patrol the territory from the rear, and sent them to cross the mountains from both sides and go around the rear to intercept the enemy's baggage train, which immediately destroyed the enemy's morale.

The other side did not expect that there were so many troops that could be freely withdrawn from the rear during Rusalka's expedition, and even dared to take the initiative to attack them. That's why they did not arrange anti-cavalry protection for the baggage train, thinking that it was stable and put all their efforts on logistics. The price of greed for transportation power was a direct collapse.

Sanita: (Learn this, this is the textbook way to use a Ranger.)

Rusalka: (That's not right. How can he mobilize my troops?)

Sanitta: (Well, it might be because I asked Ono to lead that group of rangers. Mungili is his immediate superior in Esdi. Now that the order has come, it's hard to disobey. Everyone comes to Snidi to follow orders. They all think that after defeating the Church of the Seven Sins, they will go back. It would be so embarrassing if we don't see each other again.)

Rusalka: (Well, even fighting a war requires social etiquette, right?)

Sanita: (Lawful Good is like this, focusing on helping each other as much as possible within the reasonable scope of the rules.)

But Mengjili was quite sensible. Before Sanitieta brought up the matter, he told him in advance that he had used the ranger organization of the Pearl Tear Territory without authorization, so he was willing to share part of the spoils with Rusalka. Do you think so?

Rusalka: "Can I have some prisoners?"

Rusalka's army returned, and after some of the Esdi soldiers sent from Mingyue City returned, Mengjili was no longer short of soldiers. "Of course."

What else can I say?

Hit it, it’s so right!

Rusalka loved the honesty of the Lawful Good faction. Is paying for something considered unauthorized transfer? That's called leasing!

This reminded him of a question: if a rude man on the train threw 50,000 yuan at you and asked you to give up your seat, what would you do?

What to do? Of course, get up and give the gentleman his seat back!

Since part of the army had to be returned to Mingyue City, Sanitieta simply settled all the military merits with the soldiers here.

A dozen quartermasters and tax officials were called in, and according to the model of evaluating the price tag of hundreds of millions, nearly twenty people were locked in a small room for two weeks and were not allowed to go out. All reports could only be communicated in the form of paper letters. Messengers were randomly assigned and the information was randomly distributed to each person.

During this period, they took turns sleeping and worked non-stop to calculate the battle merits of each team, evaluate the value of the spoils, come up with a rough distribution ratio, and then recalculate the list.

This is the kind of work that logistics personnel do after the war. Although going to the front line is indeed a gamble with your life, it is naturally more risky. Rusalka always likes to talk about the "Miraculous", but in fact, the quartermaster has a lot of things to consider.

Of course, although Rusalka looked down on logistics, he admired his brothers. They were really able to control the situation on the battlefield and control resources off the battlefield. For example, more than 20 people held a meeting to calculate the distribution of spoils, and Sanita was the one who presided over the meeting without a break for half a month.

Sometimes Rusalka really feels like a warrior spirit who fought from the time of Yanhuang's campaign against Chiyou all the way to the end of World War II. Otherwise, how could he be so familiar with both cold and hot weapon warfare? Forget about going to the same school, are they really from the same Earth?

No matter what, Mingyue City doesn’t need him to handle official business. His brother is going to prepare the college entrance examination papers, and the happy life of slacking off is about to begin!

However, plans always fail to keep up with changes - Phoenix generally likes to compromise. Perhaps considering that Sunita has paid too much during his half-month isolation, he is afraid that unequal distribution of work will cause conflicts within the team. So he took the initiative to coordinate the work and ensure that everyone gets a relatively fair distribution of work.

In simple terms: she locked up the idle Rusalka in the room for half a month, during which time she consumed a total of three bars of Rusalka's health.

Rusalka: (Brother, this is too much. Shouldn't this be deducted from her military merits? You should calculate it for her immediately and teach her to exercise restraint.)

Sunita: (Not counting Phoenix's military merits is to protect you. Are you sure you want to count them for her? If Phoenix can use her military merits to exchange for your public rations, then you might as well not get out of bed this year, haha.)

Rusalka: (The old ox also seemed to agree after hearing this.)

Chapter 169: Post-War Settlement

The army stayed in Mingyue City for a month, half of which was spent on summarizing the battle achievements, and the other half was spent on handling subsequent distribution opinions. For example, if some teams felt that they had too few points for battle achievements, or had something they wanted to report temporarily, they could line up and submit their opinions within the second half of the month, and no one after the deadline would be accepted.

Since Sanita has a relatively high status, he is not responsible for directly contacting the soldiers. However, if there are some major changes or miscalculations, other subordinate quartermasters/tax officers will report to him, and only after he nods his approval will the changes be allowed.

However, there are always some special and unruly people who ignore the rules and run up to him to file a complaint without paying any attention to the procedures.

"Archmage Sanita, why are my achievements so few? I killed the enemy commander! I protest. You can't withhold my achievements just because I'm a pure-blooded elf!"

That’s right, it was Shana. She went to Sanita in dissatisfaction, shouting that racial discrimination was unacceptable and that she wanted to fight for her rights.

It was Rusalka's turn to laugh at the joke. This guy, who always had a biased focus, asked Shana, "No, sister, you two are captives! Forget about the distinction between military merit and meritorious service. Look at the mage sister next door who has zero military merit and didn't say anything. At least you got a share, so be content. So, what do you plan to exchange this for? Weapons, tools, daily necessities, a house, or money? But let me make it clear, we're not for sale."

Shana answered without hesitation, "Military rank, of course!"

After hearing this, Rusalka almost knocked over the tea on the table. After thinking about it, she felt that this didn't make sense. Could it be that she also wanted to turn human soldiers into rangers?

If she could learn this, Rusalka would go back and yell "Change for me" to her maid's cat, and maybe she could turn out another Phoenix.

Sanita: (It's hard to fathom the thoughts of an elf with a brain gone haywire. I think she just wants to satisfy her desire to be a general, just like you. Trust me, after a few days of fighting, she'll be like you, finding it easier to fight alone. Thinking about it this way, your brain circuits probably overlap a lot. Now it's your turn to translate.)

Rusalka: (How is that possible? Will she launch another blitzkrieg against Poland?)

Sanita: (It’s hard to say, maybe she’ll learn it after she travels through time.)

Seeing Rusalka and Sanitta's frustrated expressions, Shana stamped her feet anxiously, "I'm your ally now. You can't discriminate against elves like this. Make up for it now!"

Rusalka was just about to say, "I bullied you, aren't you convinced? Go report me to the God of Nature, then go back crying to your World Tree and drink its sap," but Sanitita took the lead in convincing Rusalka with reason before he could "conquer people with virtue (the kind with immoral virtue)."

Sanitieta pulled a letter from the table and said, "Since you mentioned this, I have to talk to you. This is a complaint letter from the Star Knight of Esdi next door. The letter says that you attacked the commander when he asked for a fair knight duel, which insulted the duel. He also said that turning a blind eye to you violated the ethics of chivalry.

They didn't tell you this during the war because wartime regulations prohibit raising opinions that may cause disagreements within the army for any non-war related reasons. Now that the war is over, they have complained about you.

Since you are an elf and may not understand human rules, they are just offering suggestions instead of hoping to punish you.

So, I simply didn't count this part of your achievement, and everyone pretended nothing happened, and didn't ask you to apologize. This is already an act of connivance. If other soldiers had sneakily attacked the duelists, they would have been brought to a military tribunal, right?

Shana was stunned. She had read many books and knew that the sanctity of a knight's duel could not be tarnished by outsiders. She immediately realized that she was in the wrong.

The toes of her shoes turned inward, and her pink toes, exposed at the front, lightly scratched the upper. The fingers of both hands pinched the hem of the ranger's skirt behind her. She tilted her head to look at the ground, her pointed ears drooping slightly, and muttered softly, "The battlefield was so noisy at the time, I didn't hear it either. Besides, if I lose the duel, it would be you who suffered the loss. I'm trading my reputation for victory, so give me at least."

It would be a lie to say she didn't hear anything. She was a sharpshooter among the rangers. In the noisy forest, she could even hear the flutter of a butterfly's wings. How could she not know what the other side was shouting? She was just playing dumb, refusing to admit that she was just trying to gain merit.

Sanitieta: "Why do you only mention the risks and not the benefits? If we win, we can capture a very valuable prisoner alive, or at least a valuable corpse. Now you've made the other side lose even the corpse. It's hard for me to evaluate this. Think about it yourself."

Shana's voice became quieter. "Then I don't want any more battle achievements. Can you teach me Lightning Bolt?"

Rusalka, who also had good hearing, waved her hand generously: "Okay, it's a small matter, no problem."

Rusalka was the lord, and his words were supreme authority. Knowing this, Shana instantly became delighted. She changed her previously timid demeanor, raised her head and chest, and said loudly, "Okay, it's a deal! You can't go back on your word! Liars will have to swallow a thousand poisonous stings. Teach me when you return to Silver City!"

After she finished speaking, she was afraid that Sanita would change his mind, so she rushed out of the room in an instant, tapped the ground with her toes, jumped a few times and disappeared.

Sanita turned around and looked at Rusalka with a questioning look: (How the hell are you making decisions for me?)

Rusalka's moral character is dualistic: (We should act according to our conscience. People are working for us to kill the enemy out of good intentions. It's not right to engage in PUA and deduct bonuses, right?)

Sanita: (You're using my time and energy to exchange your conscience for bonuses for prisoners of war?)

Rusalka: (You can regret it now. I'll swallow the stinger. I have Hamlet's Shield and poison immunity. I'm invincible!)

Sanita: (Awesome! I'll tell Phoenix I don't need you anymore and send you back to her room.)

Rusalka: (I’m so good, don’t!)

Instead of sending Rusalka back, Sanitta asked him to call Phoenix and take him to call Charens, who was "mingling" with others in the knight camp, and the matter was settled.

When I went to find him, he just happened to knock the opponent out of the designated area with a blast of punch. Then he smiled and pulled up the opponent who was standing on the ground with a dusty face. He patted the latter on the back and shook hands with him, completing a perfect competition to enhance friendship.

Because of a great battle near the City Lord's Mansion, many buildings collapsed. Mengjili thought it would be better to rebuild instead of renovate them, so he simply demolished the remaining wreckage and built a fighting arena at the door.

Business is booming in the arena. Each of the divided fields is fully booked for matches, and the sidelines are also in full swing. After receiving the items exchanged for military merits, everyone is now well-off. Once people have money, they start looking for exciting entertainment activities, and gambling is the fastest way to stimulate mental consumption.

"Five consecutive wins! Great!"

"Come on, come on, let's split the money. If you lose, you'll accept the loss!"

"Damn it, I'll take over next. I don't believe I can't defeat this despicable outsider."

"Can you do it? You couldn't even get it hard in the brothel before. I doubt you can get it hard enough against a fist."

"Go ahead, if you can do it, go ahead!"

There were people who were happy and people who were sad on the sidelines, some were shouting for treats and some were cursing, it was very lively.

Although Sanita explicitly prohibited the opening of casinos in the city, he did not prohibit the fighting arena, nor did he prohibit small-scale private bookmakers from opening offshore betting, because he knew that it would be impossible to stop it, just like the prohibition of alcohol. Therefore, he only restricted the borrowing and lending of money on the grounds of gambling debts and gambling funds, so as to minimize the risk of personal bankruptcy caused by gambling.

Sanitta also knew that it was difficult to persuade a damned ghost with kind words. If he still managed to gamble away all his money, then he could only respect and bless him. Even in places where gambling was banned in the 21st century, there were still many gamblers. He did not expect that he could use a few laws to purify the human nature of this world.

Seeing Phoenix arrive, the soldiers were very enthusiastic and offered her their best seats in the audience. One of the dealers, who had put together a number of wooden tables to serve as a handicap, called out to Phoenix with a smile, "Mrs. Phoenix, would you like to try your luck? The odds on the red team winning six games in a row are really high!"

Phoenix didn't answer, but glanced behind her.

The dealer followed her gaze and saw Sanitieta, who was following behind but had a low presence due to his Ace Agent skills. He suddenly shut up and said with sweat dripping down his face, "Master Sanitieta, I'm just having fun..."

When the Sunny Tower passed by, it said "Don't go too far". The latter breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said of course.

He turned to the field and said, "Charens, right? Lord Pearl Tear wants to see you."

The eldest prince, Charrons, nodded, smiled, waved his hand, and said to the soldiers, "Don't erase my record. Come back tonight!"

Someone said, "Wow, it's not fair that you take a break and then come back."

"Alright! If we're going to wipe it out, I'll fight you ten times in a row tonight! I'll make sure you lose with conviction!"

He walked around the sidelines, raised his middle finger, and after provoking everyone, he followed Sani Tieta away under the gaze of a group of soldiers waving their fists and giving him a "farewell" that they dared not say a word because of Sani Tieta's presence.

----

In the classic three-court trial, Rusalka and Phoenix sat together, Sanita sat on one side, and Ai Li came to join in the fun on the other side.

Well, Ai Li's original intention was not to join in the fun. She actually wanted to come to Phoenix to "exchange for war merits". There were always a few guys on Rusalka's side who had war merits but didn't want to exchange them for material rewards. Ai Li was one of them. She was clumsy with her hands, but she just wanted to learn cooking from Phoenix and wanted to eat the snacks made by Phoenix. Now that she had war merits, she came to ask if she could do so.

She happened to run into Phoenix and Sanita bringing Charrons back. After all, there was not much entertainment in this world. With the mentality that it would be a waste not to watch the excitement, she came in and found a seat and sat down obediently, using the excuse of "I'm here to queue, I'll just listen and not talk."

After thinking about it, there was no reason to kick her out. It just so happened that Sanitieta was curious about whether she had any memories of being possessed by Theresa, so he simply tricked her into coming in for interrogation.

Sanitta looked at Charrons and gave him his full name: "Grand Prince, Mebius Sinidi Silosis Charrons."

Charrones immediately responded loudly, "It's me! It's me! I really am the eldest prince!"

Sanitta glanced helplessly at Rusalka, who was holding Phoenix beside her with an expression of indifference. "Don't get so excited. I didn't say you weren't."

It was unfair to him. The story that he was bitten to death by Rusalka along the way was fake, and he really couldn't prove his identity. It made him look like he didn't get elected as sheriff and was analyzed by good people as not being a real prophet.

Now that there is finally someone who is willing to believe that he is the eldest prince, he is so excited that he wants Sanitta to hold a press conference to announce this matter.

While Sanitieta was considering where to begin his questioning, Rusalka, standing beside him, threw a super straight punch: "Then aren't you dead?"

Challens knew the rumors outside, and he neither nodded nor shook his head. He smiled bitterly and said, "I was rescued by my teacher Anthony. I heard that you are a great wizard. You should know my teacher's name, right?"

Sanitta nodded and said, "The kingdom's most powerful archmage, Darth Anthony."

Challens nodded and said proudly, "Yes, Master, he is the only mage blessed by the Lord of Arcane. He was the one who rescued me twice and sent me here."

Rusalka wanted to show off here and say: What's so great about just one blessing from the gods? I have three!

But at this moment, he had a question that he wanted to ask more than pretending to be cool: "You are not a mage, why do you call him teacher?"

This question confused the eldest prince. He thought for a long time before finally answering uncertainly, "Because a teacher is a teacher? Just... since I was born, my father has made me call him teacher."

Indeed, this is just like why we should call our father "Dad". There is no reason. Anthony is not only the teacher of the eldest prince, but also the teacher of other princes and even the king. It is a respectful title, representing his noble status.

Rusalka made an "OK" gesture, indicating that she had no more questions.

Sanita: (As expected of you, you wasted our precious two minutes.)

"Then please explain everything clearly. What exactly happened on the day Alice City was occupied by the Church of the Seven Sins? And what is the current situation of the civil war in the kingdom? Why have all these forces inexplicably joined in?"

The eldest prince, Challens, was aware of the two problems with the Sanita Tower. He thought for a moment and said, "It's a long story."

Rusalka suddenly interrupted him: "Wait a minute!"