Chapter 409 "Sharing the spoils" and rewarding according to merit!

Boulder City.

In the meeting room on the third floor of the city hall, the long conference table was completely silent, with only the occasional cigarette ash and the nicotine that never dissipated.

The Legion left.

Or rather, it ran away with its tail between its legs, and probably didn't care about the River Valley Province for a long time.

This was something worth celebrating.

However...

The people sitting at the conference table were not happy at all.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the conference room was so solemn that it didn't seem like a meeting at all, but rather a funeral.

The only thing that didn't fit in with the funeral atmosphere was probably the brown shirt that Du Long was wearing inside out under his black coat.

It wasn't until he sat here that he realized that he had put it on the wrong way, but it was too late to change, so he could only fiddle with the collar of his coat repeatedly with his hands.

The meeting lasted from the second half of the night until dawn.

Trying to hold up his heavy eyelids, Du Long once again quietly glanced around at the people at the conference table, trying to read some changes in their positions from their expressions.

However, there was still no clue.

In order to ease the stiff atmosphere at the conference table, he cleared his throat and spoke in a tactful tone.

"... At least, he didn't lie to us."

Seeing that no one interrupted him, Du Long continued.

"Last night, not a single bullet... even the shells fell on our giant wall, and the ammunition they fired was undoubtedly fireworks."

"I think we don't need to be too nervous. The Alliance is a very friendly neighbor. They have always cared about their relationship with us."

When saying these words, Du Long kept a low profile and used a tone of solicitation. After all, few people sitting here have a lower status than him.

Except for Melvin, the president of the Boulder City Bank, and the deputy director Jaeger who always had a disagreement with him, the rest were either nobles in the inner city or officers in the militia... and the latter were the real dignitaries in Boulder City.

In comparison, he was more like a servant of the city lord, a steward who took care of his "non-core business".

Several people at the conference table exchanged glances and whispered to each other.

The expressions of several inner city nobles relaxed a little, thinking that what he said seemed to make sense. After all, the Alliance did not actively provoke them, and sold them a lot of interesting gadgets, enriching their days and nights.

Only the man in the militia uniform still had a stern face, staring at Du Long without any change in expression, and snorted coldly in response.

"Oh? So we have to thank them?"

His name is Wei Lun, the captain of the first thousand-man team of the Giant Stone City Militia, an old noble in the inner city, and also the most difficult hardliner to deal with.

Although isolation is the consensus of the residents in the inner city of Giant Stone City, how to isolate and how to isolate is something that can be discussed.

"You misunderstood, that's not what I meant."

Du Long sighed softly, looked at the officer with a headache, and continued.

"Let's look at the problem objectively. It's better for the airship... or the 400mm main gun to fall into the hands of the Alliance than the Legion, isn't it? Even if those people in the northern suburbs are a bunch of country bumpkins and mud-playing cracked crabs, they are relatively civilized."

The officer narrowed his eyes slightly and said coldly.

"Do you mean I'm not objective enough?"

Du Long: "..."

Seeing that the meeting was deadlocked again, Melvin, who was sitting at the corner of the long table, coughed lightly and said in a roundabout tone.

"I think Mr. Director should want to express that the situation we are facing has improved a lot compared to half a month ago, and there is no need to be so sad."

Seeing his ally speak, Du Long immediately took over his words.

"That's what I mean."

Sitting next to Wei Lun, an officer in charge of city defense suddenly sighed.

"Automated anti-aircraft firepower, hundreds of artillery pieces... God of the Great Horned Deer, how did they break through that thing."

At 7:58 last night, the Alliance set off fireworks for an hour and two minutes, and the anti-aircraft guns and missiles on the giant wall were loaded and on standby all night.

If the dense fireworks were replaced with shells equipped with proximity fuses, no plane in Boulder City would be able to take off successfully.

After all, that kind of vertical take-off and landing fighter, even if it can switch to fixed-wing mode, needs a distance of more than ten kilometers to complete acceleration.

Before that, it didn't take very advanced technology to shoot it down, a round of broadside firepower was enough.

There is no doubt that the country folks in the northern suburbs are showing off their pitiful muscles in the name of the celebration.

Thinking of this, the officer couldn't help but grit his teeth and curse in his heart.

Just because he won a game against the legion by chance, he showed off in front of them.

This villain's smug face...

It's too much to be beaten!

"I still hold the same view," Wei Lun said expressionlessly, "We should tighten our aid to them! Immediately!"

Du Long sighed.

"For example?"

Wei Lun said without hesitation.

"Suspend the loan! Suspend trade with the north!"

Du Long was not surprised at all that he would say this. These rough men in the militia had no idea how expensive food, oil, and salt were.

He was just about to say something.

However, before he opened his mouth, a man in luxurious clothes said everything he wanted to say.

"The latter one is unrealistic. What you eat, wear, and use...all come from trade between us and other survivors' settlements."

Du Long glanced at the man. He recognized him. His name was Sid. He was a famous noble in the inner city and also the major shareholder behind the Weijia Trading Company.

This guy's industry was not only the Weijia Trading Company, but also not only in the Boulder City. He also had shares in the farms in the south and the mercenaries there. His family assets were so rich that it was difficult to calculate with chips.

At the same time, Duron also noticed the devil silk clothes on his body and the leather shoes made of death claws on his feet.

In a sense, what he said was indeed right. His food, clothing and daily expenses did come from trade with the outside world.

As soon as Sid's voice fell, another inner city nobleman of equally high status spoke up.

"That's right, and it's not realistic to suspend trade with one party alone! Once you leave the giant wall, those caravans won't let you know where they went. Even if you close the north gate, even if you only leave one south gate, as long as the business in the northern suburbs is profitable, they will go around in a big circle."

Wei Lun's eyebrows twitched.

Although his attitude was still tough, he may have realized that his words were not thought through, so he changed his words and made a slight concession.

"Forget about the trade, at least the loan must be stopped!"

He knew that the money was in the Boulder City Bank.

It is easy to stop the loan. Just move your fingers to freeze hundreds of millions of chips.

The nobles had no objection. The Alliance's money bag had nothing to do with them anyway. However, just when Wei Lun was about to smile, the bank president Melvin coughed and suddenly spoke.

"I have something to say about this..."

Seeing everyone looking at him, he continued.

"Those loans are more like aid to ourselves than to them. The residents of Boulder City can't afford to buy our things. If we suspend the loan to the Alliance, at least half of the factories will go bankrupt."

Hearing this, Sid hurriedly said.

"That won't work! The loan can't be stopped!"

The nobles nodded in agreement and expressed almost the same opinion.

"That's right!"

"The idea of ​​stopping the loan is simply too stupid! Our factories have already started. If their loans are stopped, who will pay the workers' wages!"

"Even if we have to stop, we have to wait until those country bumpkins settle their payments!"

Seeing that he had more and more allies on his side, Melvin breathed a sigh of relief and continued to strike while the iron was hot.

"I think so too. The economy, which has been stagnant for a century, has finally shown signs of recovery. We can't let it stop... at least not now."

The officer sitting next to Wei Lun couldn't help but clench his fists and scolded.

"Are we just going to watch them grow bigger?"

Du Long said softly.

"I have to explain this. Their strength is indeed growing, but we are also becoming stronger."

"Let's talk about the three thousand mercenaries hired to fight on the front line. Excluding those who died and stayed there, at least one or two thousand returned... They are all soldiers who have been on the battlefield, not the battlefield of cleaning slime mold, but the hot battle of firepower against firepower. We can recruit them and train them as grassroots officers!"

He has always dreamed that the city hall can have its own armed forces, and now is undoubtedly the best opportunity.

Seeing Wei Lun fall into deep thought, Du Long was slightly happy in his heart, but before he could be happy, his ally Melvin suddenly betrayed him.

"Regarding the expansion of the army... I don't think it's necessary. It's enough for us to ensure that we have the ability to destroy each other with our neighbors. They rely on us economically and will rely on us more in the future, and those loans are chains around their necks... This is more effective than expanding the army."

Just kidding.

Once the army is expanded, it means tax increases. The city hall doesn't care, but he can't help but care.

The residents of the outer city are almost being squeezed dry, and there is no money to be made. The situation has only improved slightly with the recent increase in jobs.

It is obvious where the money will come from.

Ignoring Duron's crazy eyes, Melvin continued.

"If our city lord has no intention of expanding the territory, raising so many troops will only be a burden for us."

The nobles sitting at the conference table also nodded.

Most of them have industries in the city. If the army is expanded, it will inevitably lead to increased taxes, which will further increase their operating costs.

At least in this matter, their position is consistent with that of the Boulder City Bank.

Wei Lun frowned.

He can ignore the opinions of Duron and President Melvin, but he cannot ignore the nobles sitting here.

Two centuries of intermarriage have made the power structure of the inner city complicated.

Especially those old nobles, many of them did not buy "tickets" to enter the inner city, but were in the original building from the beginning.

Some of them maintain the operation of the "core business" of the city lord, and some manage assets in the distant world. Even the city lord will listen to their opinions.

At least selectively listen.

At this time, Melvin coughed lightly and said again to smooth things over.

"Don't worry too much, our neighbors are very trustworthy..."

After a pause, he continued.

"Just yesterday, the men sent by the manager sent us 12 boxes of treasures. Those are General McLen's collections. The valuation given by my professional evaluation team is 8 million to 9.6 million chips... This money will be used as a prepayment for the interest in the next three years."

Before he finished speaking, he saw that the eyes of the nobles were instantly hot.

Especially the shareholders of Boulder City Bank.

Although these treasures entered the bank's vault and had nothing to do with them directly, they would soon appear at the auction.

Chips were just numbers to them, and the money spent would always maintain its value, whether it was for purchasing real estate, rare metals, or imported goods from the ideal city or treasures from the pre-war era.

The collection of the captain of the legion...

I'm sure they wouldn't be disappointed.

The atmosphere at the conference table suddenly became lively, with excited whispers and faces that were completely awake, which caught Du Long and Wei Lun, who were sitting at the table, off guard for a moment.

"I didn't expect those country bumpkins to be so generous."

"This is not called generosity, this is the interest that should be paid to us!"

A noble sighed.

"War... makes money so damn fast."

Looking at the nobles who were talking excitedly, Melvin breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

It seems that this card was played at the right time...

…

If we were to say who could not accept the termination of financial cooperation with the Alliance, it would undoubtedly be the Boulder City Bank.

The bankruptcy of the Boulder City factory would make the nobles in the inner city uncomfortable and even live a tight life, but it would not cause serious damage.

However, Melvin was different.

His bank was not only a creditor of the Alliance, but also lent money to the factories in Boulder City so that those factory owners could expand production.

If the loans from the Alliance were frozen, those factories would not be able to collect the accounts and would not be able to pay back his money. Large-scale bad debts would instantly trigger systemic risks.

That is, liquidity would dry up.

Those country bumpkins in the northern suburbs were very cunning. As soon as they got the loan, they signed a lot of orders with the Boulder City factory, and the production tasks were even scheduled for next year.

Melvin only now realized why the representatives of the Alliance were so straightforward when signing the contract, and agreed to a series of unequal treaties, including that it could not be used for spot trading, the scope of use of chips, and the establishment of a regulatory account.

It turned out that these guys had planned to tie him to their chariot from the beginning.

He was undoubtedly the richest man in the city, but his money was not all his own. A large part of it was placed with him by others.

Including the residents of the outer city, the nobles of the inner city, and even the city lord. In addition to private accounts, there are also taxes from the city hall and military expenses of the militia.

If there is a problem...

It can't be solved by burning a few account books and killing a few people.

Thinking of the series of consequences, Melvin had a headache, but also a little bit of laughter.

He had never been to the alliance, but he was forced to become half of the alliance, and even had to withstand the pressure from the inner city for the alliance...

And he couldn't quit.

Because those people gave too many benefits...

The meeting ended and he finally returned home.

Sitting on the soft sofa, Melvin rubbed his sore eye bags and couldn't help but curse in a low voice.

"This bunch of cunning skunks..."

Alyssa tilted her head while reading the newspaper.

"Dad?"

"Nothing... my dear daughter," Melvin immediately put on a gentle expression and rubbed her daughter's fluffy hair lovingly, "Dad is just a little tired, just take a rest."

Alyssa blinked and said smartly.

"Because of the war?"

"Not really, but it is somewhat related..." Melvin sighed and talked to himself tiredly, "The ideal situation is that the alliance takes our money and fights the legion to a loss, so that we can do business with the alliance that needs us while letting the alliance do things according to our requirements."

"But something unexpected happened, they got the airship." Alyssa said thoughtfully.

Glancing at the newspaper in her hand, Melvin smiled and nodded.

"That's right... they got the airship, and they used fireworks to tell us that they had fixed it and even played with it... these cunning little foxes."

"Isn't it a skunk?"

"Ahem," Melvin coughed dryly, "Don't imitate Dad's words... By the way, why am I talking about these boring things."

He didn't want his lovely little daughter to think about those annoying things. His two sons were both excellent people. One was familiar with the business in the inner city, and the other was traveling in the ideal city. He could safely hand over the future of the family to them.

Melvin yawned.

"It's getting late. Your music teacher will be here soon... You'd better put the newspaper away, otherwise your mother will see it and she will be unhappy again."

Alyssa made a helpless expression and put down the newspaper in her hand.

"Okay..."

The voice was full of reluctance,

She dragged the last syllable for a long time...

...

Before the dawn of the wasteland.

The night celebration has come to an end, but the excitement on the forum is still going on.

And the cause of all this was naturally the announcement released by the dog planner A Guang.

[The rewards for the "Battle of Ruigu City" campaign have been issued, and the lucky draw activity is open for a limited time. Please redeem your points for prizes in time! ]

[The "Ten Thousand Miles of Yellow Sand" expansion pack is officially launched. In order to consolidate the fruits of victory, we will support our neighbors and drive the legions that spread chaos and plague to the west of the desert! ]

[Registration for the expeditionary force is open! (Note: Only combat professions are counted. Life profession players don't have to worry. There will be exclusive expansion pack related tasks released later.)]

Tail: "Ahhh! Golden Legend! (?ω?)"

Roushan Big Bun: "!!! What did you draw?"

Tail: "Wait a minute, let me check it out first! (??ω??)?"

Quit Smoking: "???"

Sisi: "Oh, you are worthy of being Awei. Compared with the lucky draw, the first floor is more important! (￣▽￣)"

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "I'm crying. I'm in Luoxia Province... I can't get the prizes I won."

I'm the Blackest: "It's okay, Pangolin. We'll use it for you first! (Funny)"

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Get out! Don't move! I'll come back and use it! (Angry)"

Quit Smoking: "Where's Fang Chang! The new expansion is out!"

Yin Lena: "Where's the analysis? Where's the commentary? Why hasn't it come out yet! Didn't you have enough to eat? (Funny)"

Ya Ya: "It's time for the cloud planner to go to work!"

Canyon is in Escaped Mole: "Damn... This guy won the first prize and is afraid to show up!"

Funnel Commander: "(shivering.jpg)"

Debt Eyes: "Fuck! Dogecoin is out! (angry)"

Construction Boy and Brick: "Tell the truth about what you got! (angry)"

Funnel Commander: "Ahem... Lollipop."

Construction Boy and Brick: "Hahahaha! Rookie!"

Teng Teng: "You... You really believed what he said. (squinting)"

Ye Shi: "Damn, Fang Chang really disappeared... Damn, I won't wait any longer. It's time to go in a few minutes. See you online, brothers!"

Lao Bai: "See you online. (grin)"

Kuangfeng: "(squinting)"

Garbage Picker Level 99: "Ahhhh!!! Meet at the gate of No. 117 for the sewer mission! Depart on time at 7 o'clock. Come quickly if you want to brush the sequence level!"

"..."

Looking at the noisy little players on the forum, Chu Guang was sincerely happy for them.

Although he had a big loss this time, the alliance spent the expected budget for a whole year in just one month, but his little players reaped a lot of rewards.

The rewards for most players were more than 2,000 silver coins, enough to buy a Miner I exoskeleton, and many players with outstanding contributions even received more than 20,000 silver coins.

Excluding a series of expenses such as ammunition, supplies, weapon loss, and logistics loss, the "direct rewards" issued to players in this battle alone reached 30 million silver coins!

This does not include the cost of the lottery.

The silver price on the official trading platform is also fluctuating violently, but Chu Guang does not care much.

The silver exchange is not a casino, nor is it a financial product.

It is a "financing" channel for the closed beta test of "Wasteland OL" and players, or a tool for him to "pay wages and subsidies" to players.

After the trading volume shrinks to a suitable position and most speculators leave the market, he will put some technologies that are not too difficult to digest in the 21st century.

Alternative options include aviation fuel, laser components for igniting controlled fusion, etc. These are technologies before the prosperous era.

As for how to properly use these technologies, it is not his concern, and I believe he does not need to worry about it.

Chu Guang also discovered it suddenly.

Although his "business ability" was a bit rusty at the beginning, he has been in the position of manager for a long time, and he has become more and more handy in handling these matters.

In addition, the points accumulated from the last expansion pack to the present have finally come in handy.

Except for the small amount of money from the primary and intermediate blind boxes, he put most of the equipment from the advanced blind boxes as prizes for the lottery on the official website.

Chu Guang divided the rewards into three "reward pools".

The first-level reward pool is mainly the spoils seized from the Legion, the basic weapons produced by the Alliance, the light weapons of the Boulder City military aid, etc., with a value between 1 and 500 silver coins.

The second-level reward pool is mainly some relatively expensive equipment, including weapon accessories and exoskeletons, with a value between 500 and 2,000 silver coins.

The third-level reward pool is mostly the prizes from Chu Guang's own blind boxes, as well as the good things he got from Ideal City, etc.

The quality of these equipment is quite good. Chu Guang believes that his little players can give full play to their imagination and maximize their value in appropriate occasions.

As for Chu Guang himself, the demand for equipment is not that great.

Not to mention that he didn't have many opportunities to go to the front line, this set of divine equipment itself was almost fully equipped. If he was really given an axe, wouldn't he change from "Karl Franz" to "Hill Dwarf"?

That's too good!

Now that even Neeko has put on an exoskeleton, Chu Guang is even confident that he can knock down a tank alone on the front battlefield.

This is not an exaggeration at all.

After all, the nitrogen-powered hammer is used to destroy bunkers and anti-armor.

In addition, in addition to the high-tech equipment opened by the blind box, what surprised Chu Guang even more was the changes that happened to him.

This time he came back from the front line.

His level finally broke through level 30!