Chapter 17
After our meeting, I rode on the Huey to a specific location within Roland's territory. Roland stayed behind so that plans to rebuild his towns could proceed with the cases of gold that I gave him.
Oh, the tax collector? He's currently locked up in a jail cell.
Anyways, back on track, we are going to a massive open field. It was one of the prime locations for an airfield to be built.
I built warehouses, several hangers, mining drills, unit recharge hubs and two really long runways. Around the base, barbed wire fences, and watchtowers are set up.
Our new aircraft included:
Five AC-130 Gunship
Five C-130 Hercules
Ten A-10 Thunderbolt II (Also known as the Warthog)
Five F-16 Fighting Falcon
I'm convinced we can dominate the sky during wars and cause destruction on the ground with these.
I created a thousand combat units, split between protecting the airbase and Roland's territory. Another group of two hundred units to operate all aircraft and keep the place functioning.
I then returned to Roland's house to have dinner with them. I gave them meat from the Minotaur King that was left untouched from our attacks. Roland's wife personally cooked our meal, and it was delicious.
After our dinner, Roland wanted to have a talk. The lord of the neighbouring territory was one of his closest friends. Their land was also suffering just like his own was. I told him that we would consider helping them.
Back at the base, I read through reports after reports for the rest of the night. In the end, the Empire had suffered over 40,000 deaths and lost several towns and villages. Their exhausted army was mobilised immediately to take care of lords that had begun to rebel against the Empire.
Unlike the Empire, other countries like the Western Union, which comprises several smaller states, were already getting back onto their feet. For now, we sent our spies there to import some goods from there.
We continued to observe the war between the Empire and the rebel army for a week. Despite the Empire being more equipped, they were still having a hard time.
Even using my toe, I can think of the main reason. The Empire's army was commanded mainly by generals who were simply a bunch of rich people who bought their positions.
During the week, we sent supplies to Roland's friend after we checked that he, too, was a virtuous person. The only thing separating our forest, and our other allies, was land that belonged to the Empire. I built another base that had a smaller runway and a thousand units to go with it in our newest territory.
We also began to expand the main base by using these new tree cutting machines that can be attached or detached from the Humvees. This allowed me to expand our walls and increase the amount of structure we had. Such as more warehouses, mining drills, farms, and we even built a bathhouse. The bathhouse was favourited amongst the people, me included.
I also introduced games like chess, and competitions were held daily. The prizes included things like liquor, beauty products, and luxury goods.
Our current champion in shogi was a nine-year-old girl called Lina; she had won every game so far. Yes, even I was amazed by her skill. But when against the units that were supercomputers, no one stood a chance.
I even did a little experiment by having two units compete with each other, with no options for a draw. The game has been going on for three days now, and people have started to bet on them with rewards they've earned themselves.
It's totally an excellent use of units and gives entertainment to the people. Productivity has increased from people wanting to finish their work and start playing or watching as soon as possible.
I also showed Roland and his friend Aidan, who was immediately hooked on chess.
During one of our chess sessions, they mentioned that they both received calls from the Empire to suppress the Rebels. Whilst the Rebels asked them to join them.
Of course, none of them accepted, and I greatly appreciated their actions. But it was an excellent opportunity to show ourselves and take the land to connect our territories.
I told them to message the rebels and tell them that if we help them win, we get the land that separates us. Of course, they did not mention the type of reinforcements, anything about me and our little alliance.
The Rebels accepted those terms, so we started to prepare. I chose to help the Rebel side because it was a more straightforward way to take down that greedy Emperor.
We were told to send our reinforcement to a city that was going to be attacked by the Empire. Apparently, it was three thousand defending against fifteen thousand.
Usually, it would take a week for an army to arrive, and the city would have fallen by then. But we didn't have to march soldiers. Instead, we had helicopters, attack planes, and bombers.
We sent out a Huey with units to contact and get the details from whoever was in charge. The Warthogs and AC-130 Gunship were on standby.