Chapter 281: Problem of Food

This was a problem for any large family.

For the Arlan family, which had developed in the Kalo Kingdom for centuries, it had an extremely large number of people.

Having a large family could, of course, be a good thing, but it was also a burden.

With the Arlan family's strength, they could not nurture that many people.

At the end of the day, there was only one Viscount position, and they definitely would not give out their territory.

After all, if the territory was given out, as time went on, the territory that the Arlan family would control would become smaller and smaller until it became a pile of loose sand.

When that time came, the Arlan family would cease existing.

In order to avoid this, the Arlan family naturally would not split up their territory and would just give some economic support to those who would not inherit the Viscount position.

However, they were limited in how much they could give as well.

That was why apart from the core members of the family, most of the more distant relatives did not do too well.

In order to help these family members, Siriv had arranged for them to do all kinds of work within the territory.

However, this evidently was not enough.

Even though his territory was not too small, compared to the size of the Arlan family, it was not enough.

The arrival of Chen Heng had brought them new opportunities.

After going to his own territory, whether it was maintaining the territory or other things, Chen Heng would need people to help.

This would give those people from the Arlan family an opportunity.

In a sense, this was a win-win situation: Chen Heng would obtain helpers, while he would give those people opportunities.

As Chen Heng continued to develop, perhaps even the royal family would try to rope him in.

Let alone the future, just his current self was extremely powerful.

A Second Ring Warlock would have no problem in managing a territory and protecting it from Beastmen.

As such, he had to make suitable investments.

Jenri was his own child. Even though he was not Siriv's eldest child, he was one of Siriv's more favored children.

It was a pity that no matter how much he liked him, there was still only one Viscount position.

Moreover, compared to his eldest son, Jenri's performance was quite ordinary, and he did not show any potential to awaken life power.

That was why Siriv decided to have him support Chen Heng.

This was an investment, as well as an opportunity.

From how Siriv saw it, following Chen Heng was a high-risk, high-reward matter.

If his children performed well, they might be able to gain a title for themselves.

As such, after hearing Chen Heng's reply, Siriv smiled and felt much more at ease.

After chatting for a while, they both departed.

Following this, Chen Heng returned to his room.

When he arrived there, he saw a figure standing there.

It was a somewhat tall young man with ordinary looks. He was standing outside Chen Heng's room, as if he had been waiting there for a while.

Chen Heng was not unfamiliar with this person.

"Jenri..."

Looking at the young man, Chen Heng looked a bit surprised as he smiled, "What are you doing here?"

"Sir Aktor."

Hearing Chen Heng's voice, Jenri immediately turned and said respectfully, "According to my father's orders, I came here to await your commands."

"Is that so..."

Hearing that, Chen Heng thought to himself and nodded, "Come with me then."

Following this, he turned and walked out, and Jenri hurriedly followed behind him.

Soon, they came to a sparse training ground.

It was still daytime, and it was quite bright outside.

Under the sunlight, Herdosiri was holding a sword as he diligently trained the soldiers.

Over the past few months, the number of soldiers under Chen Heng's command had once again increased.

Including Herdosiri and Lamu, he now had around 400 or so people under his command.

In terms of numbers, he had more soldiers than even Siriv now.

The soldiers' backgrounds were quite complicated: Some were people he had saved, while others had been captives.

However, after being trained, they all looked quite passable.

Standing in front of Chen Heng, Jenri looked at the soldiers and felt quite confused.

"Sir..." he said, wanting to know what orders Chen Heng had.

"In the following period of time, you will join these people and train with them," Chen Heng said as he looked at Jenri, "Can you handle that?"

Train with those ordinary soldiers?

Hearing that order, Jenri felt quite startled, but he quickly came to his senses and nodded, "Yes, I can."

"Very good."

Hearing his words, Chen Heng nodded in satisfaction. He thought for a moment before saying, "I will be leaving after a few days to head for Kaki. After that, I will head to my territory and will need many helpers."

He looked at Jenri as he smiled and asked, "Are you willing to help me, Jenri? In order to face the various issues that will arise in the future, I hope to gather some people to assist me. Mm, about ten people or so will do."

Hearing those words, Jenri froze and realized something as he looked delighted, "Sir, that is simple."

Over the past few months, because of Chen Heng's actions, most people in the castle knew what his strength was like.

Most people believed that following such a powerful person would be a kind of glory, and they would be able to gain much as well.

As such, as long as Chen Heng was willing to take in followers, many people would be willing.

Siriv had also reminded Chen Heng of this before.

With his current status and strength, it would not be difficult for him to gain helpers—this was the case with Herdosiri and Lamu.

Chen Heng had not spent any effort in recruiting the two of them: he had just displayed part of his power, as well as his identity as a Bloodline Awakener, and that was enough to have them follow him. Moreover, they supplied their own things, so not only did they not use any of Chen Heng's resources, but they even provided him with their own assets.

This was the same for the soldiers.

As captives, they were not resistant to Chen Heng taking them in, and they were instead overjoyed.

Why was that?

From how they saw it, following someone powerful like this would definitely bring them great benefits in the future.

In this world, there were all kinds of legends, such as Knights leading their followers to open up new domains and establish empires.

In actuality, many kingdoms had been built like this.

Those legends made them believe that following a powerful person like Chen Heng could result in them also becoming part of a legend.

This was why Siriv did so much for Chen Heng and even had his son follow Chen Heng.

After realizing this, Chen Heng's thinking began to change.

From the current situation, he did indeed lack helpers. Things were fine now, but after going to his new territory, he would need people for all kinds of things.

Rather than spending a great deal of effort to recruit people then, it was better to make preparations now.

Standing there, Chen Heng thought of various things.

After receiving his order, Jenri happily left to find others.

Seeing him like this, Chen Heng inwardly shook his head and silently left.

Jenri was much faster than Chen Heng had expected.

In just two or three days, he had found ten people.

Chen Heng was not surprised to find that these were all the younger sons of families.

As younger sons, they could not inherit their families' noble titles and assets. If they wanted to live good lives, they would have to search for their own opportunities.

From how they saw it, Chen Heng was an opportunity.

As such, they came here, and seemed incredibly eager.

Chen Heng examined these people and gave his approval.

Jenri's choices were quite good.

Even though they were all younger sons, they came from rich families and were all quite decent. They were not all that strong, but they were all well-educated.

For Chen Heng, that was enough.

It was not that his requirements were low but that he was limited by his circumstances.

Just like any ancient, feudalistic society, ordinary commoners had low literacy rates, and this was true for both the Malido Kingdom and the Kalo Kingdom.

In fact, because the Kalo Kingdom was often embroiled in war, this problem was made even worse.

As such, for those people to be literate, it was already quite good.

At the very least, it would be no problem for them to be low-level government officials.

Soon, half a month passed.

At that point, Chen Heng left the various matters to Lamu, while he and Herdosiri headed to Kaki.

They gradually travelled towards their destination, observing their surroundings on the way.

"So much of the land is unused..." Chen Heng thought to himself as he looked around.

Compared to the Malido Kingdom, the Kalo Kingdom had far fewer people, and this meant that much more of the land was left unused.

This was a great waste.

Seeing these things, Chen Heng realized some problems: population and food.

Because the Kalo Kingdom did not have that many people, establishing his own territory would be much more difficult.

Without enough people, even if he had a large territory, he would not be able to put all of it to use.

In a sense, population was a massive fortune in and of itself.

Without enough people, Chen Heng would not be able to reap the full benefits from the territory.

Moreover, compared to population, food was an even bigger problem.

In the foreseeable future, they most likely would not be able to produce their own food.

As such, they would have to buy their food from outside.

However, given how much unused land there was in the Kalo Kingdom, as well as the fighting continuously going on, just how much would the price of food increase?

Thinking about that problem, Chen Heng could not help but frown.

Simply purchasing food would be quite difficult.

Putting aside the fact that they did not have much money right now, even if they had enough money, buying large amounts of food from the current market would not be simple.

There was a food shortage everywhere, and many people were stockpiling food and would be unwilling to sell it.

As Chen Heng walked, he thought to himself.

Nobles.

Under the current situation, only the nobles had large amounts of food, especially those with territories.

Similar to the people in Chen Heng's previous world, this world's rulers also liked to stockpile food.

This was not only because it was necessary but because much of the taxes they received was in crops.

During years with good harvests, they would receive large amounts of crops, making them difficult to sell. Even if they were sold, they would be sold for cheap prices.

However, when there were famines, those crops' value would skyrocket, but those with stockpiles would not be willing to sell them.

There were definitely large amounts of crops in those rulers' hands right now, such as Siriv.

During the past few months, Chen Heng's soldiers had all been fed by Siriv.

Despite this, it had not been a big pressure for Siriv.

This told Chen Heng some things.

If he set his sights on the nobles, things would be much easier.

The only question was how to get food from these people.

It was not rational to expect them to give him food out of charity.

Following this, they continued to observe as they continued on to Kaki.

After many more days, they reached this city.

Outside the massive city, there was a thick city wall surrounding it.

Chen Heng and Herdosiri walked through the streets, and they found that this city was not suffering as much as other places. Even though many people walked hurriedly and had grim looks, the situation was not as grave as in other places.

From when the Beastmen had started invading, it had been quite difficult for many people to survive, and many had become slaves.

However, this did not seem to happen in this city.

It seemed that even though the situation was quite grim outside, the effects had not reached this city.

After taking a look around, Chen Heng returned to his lodging.

The place where he was staying was a manor arranged by the Kalo royal family.

The manor was quite sparse, and even though it was a bit old, it was not a problem for Chen Heng and his people.

From how he saw it, Kaki was actually very ordinary. Let alone the cities he had seen in other worlds, it was lackluster compared to even some cities in the Malido Kingdom.

However, perhaps it was because of the Outlanders from the Wastelands, this city's defenses were quite good. Not only were the city walls incredibly tall and thick, but there were all kinds of other defensive measures.

There were a few small forts outside, surrounding the city.