Chapter 710.2: No Battle Today

“So we’re just going to watch them strut around under our noses and leave?!” the adjutant shouted angrily, fists clenched tight. “Forget what the soldiers will think, how are we supposed to explain this to His Majesty?!”

“That is precisely His Majesty’s intention...” Gopal coughed lightly and lowered his voice. “Do you remember the previous imperial decree about the ceasefire? The important part was all written in the title. The contents themselves were secondary...”

Alyang silently nodded. Still saying nothing, he lowered the binoculars and walked past the stunned adjutant, leaving the frontline observation post.

Gopal was right. The most important quality in a loyal subject was understanding the painstaking intentions of His Majesty. Competence itself was secondary.

If he stubbornly ordered the troops to fire, if all three hundred thousand soldiers surged forth and crushed Port Gallon into dust, even if they ultimately won a glorious victory, it would end badly for him. At most, within three to five years, weeds several meters tall would be growing atop his grave.

But if he truly listened to every word from His Majesty, then even if he fought the most foolish battle imaginable, the worst consequence would merely be a scolding and a little public criticism from the citizens of the Heavenly City. In the end, the matter would most likely be raised high and set down lightly, without any real punishment.

Wasn’t bearing some blame on behalf of the royal family exactly what a subject was meant to do?

Watching the lonely figure returning to the trenches, Gopal’s face carried a trace of discomfort, though relief also welled in his heart. Sighing softly, he patted the adjutant’s shoulder before following after the general toward the frontline command center.

That day, the banks of the Everflowing River remained calm and peaceful. There would be no battles on the eastern front.

Later that evening, an imperial decree was issued, declaring that gentle breezes swept across the outskirts of the City of a Thousand Pillars when New Alliance armored vehicles brazenly attempted to cross the ceasefire line to carry out a sneak attack. However, upon seeing General Alyang’s defenses standing firm as iron walls without the slightest opening, the enemy abandoned their military banner and fled in panic.

The propaganda posters even featured a photograph of the “retreating” vehicle.

The rolling clouds of dust kicked up by its tires genuinely did make it look as though it were fleeing in terror, which somewhat restored the disgraced General Alyang’s reputation and dignity.

Late that night, the “retreating” off-road vehicle finally returned along the coastline to Port Gallon.

Looking at the distant flickering lights, Two Moonlight yawned loudly from the driver’s seat and rubbed his sore arms while grumbling, “Fucks sake, why are we always the ones doing these shitty low-paying jobs?”

Sitting in the passenger seat, Mountain River Dreaming said nothing. He merely glanced subtly into the rearview mirror, hoping a certain dumbass would reflect on himself.

Unfortunately, perhaps because the AFK Version Firstborn was sitting right beside him, Zero Rush clearly failed to realize that the dumbass Mountain River Dreaming was waiting for was himself.

Completely misunderstanding the captain’s look, he suddenly straightened up from his seat and said in excitement, “After driving around all day, wanna go get a massage once we’re back?”

Mountain River Dreaming coughed awkwardly. “Just don’t go into the locals’ homes again.”

Zero Rush wiggled his eyebrows with a grin. “Who the hell would bother going into locals’ homes? I mean there’s a foot massage place open in the north of the city.”

Version Firstborn, who returned, froze for a second, having only heard the latter half of the sentence, and instinctively blurted out, “Holy shit, which genius came up with that?”

Zero Rush chuckled, “Who cares which genius did it. Probably some Lifestyle Profession player or something... Don’t worry, blue coats don’t scam other blue coats. It’s definitely legit! It’s the locals’ places that aren’t legit!”

Ever since they had posted the battle report on the forums, a lot of players had come to Port Gallon recently just for the excitement, mostly people active around Silvermoon Bay. They had brought not only money and goods, but also some of the industries from over there.

Port Gallon was currently a city waiting to be rebuilt from ruins, and opportunities for business were everywhere. Even something as small as adding one more coat to the wardrobe or one more pair of shoes to the shoe rack of Dawn City residents would translate into enough money in reality to buy an entire house.

As a result, Lifestyle Profession players had all begun showing off their talents. Whether earning money from the locals or from the stationed troops, they had practically tried every idea imaginable.

Of course, businesses run by players were relatively legitimate. After all, the beta player circle was still small. Even the slightest scandal would end up blasted across the forums, and if the Doggy Developers saw it, things would definitely get troublesome.

“Then forget it.” Version Firstborn yawned boredly, shifted into a more comfortable position, then closed his eyes again like someone suffering from a man’s weakness. “I think I’ll just go back to the non-legit ones.”

“??”

“???”

“...”

Fuck! How did we end up with this freak?!

...

Although the formal ceasefire agreement had yet to be signed, both sides’ restrained behavior had already caused the temporary ceasefire to take effect through mutual understanding.

Based on drone surveys, the players stationed in Port Gallon used the harbor as a central point and outlined a territory covering approximately 10,000 square kilometers.

Compared to the buffer zone proposed by the Xilande Empire, the announcement drafted by the players was far more straightforward.

They first declared the establishment of the Port Gallon Regional Government, then announced effective control over the region in the name of Port Gallon.

At present, Bihari had been appointed Chief of Police for Port Gallon, while Mandar, the former acting chief, took over as Guard Station Chief for the Harbor District and Tulip Street.

Aside from the former chief judge of the settlement court being dismissed for refusing to serve the new administration and replaced by a citizen who had once worked as a court clerk in the Harbor District courthouse, there were temporarily no changes in personnel across administrative departments such as customs, taxation, education, transportation, firefighting, and others.

In addition, Port Gallon had established a special Civil Defense Office.

The former New Alliance First Avengers Corps had officially been renamed the Militia Corps. It would now fall under the command of the Civil Defense Office, though wartime command authority remained with the New Alliance forces stationed at the harbor.

Former corps commander Laxi had been promoted to Director of the Civil Defense Office, responsible for strategic coordination and logistics. He would no longer directly command frontline combat forces or participate in frontline battles.

Although the man was talented, his charisma and execution ability far surpassed those of the other liberated slaves, his impulsiveness was also a serious problem. Thus, after extensive discussion on the forums, the players ultimately decided to move him away from the frontlines and stick him in an office job at the rear.

That would both help cultivate his military professionalism for possible future use, and prevent him from pulling stunts like randomly opening fire at the frontline.

And so, with a series of personnel appointments arranged, the rough framework of a temporary regional government was hastily assembled.

The players who loved causing trouble even designed a brand-new currency for the newborn regional regime, the Gallon.

Its exchange rate with silver was temporarily set at 10:1. In other words, one silver could be exchanged for ten Gallons.

The primary reason was that the Xilande Empire had closed its markets to Port Gallon, causing the purchasing power of Xilande currency within the region to continue depreciating. At the same time, unlike French Fry Harbor, this place was not officially New Alliance territory, making it inconvenient for the players to directly integrate it into the New Alliance market.

After all, doing so would essentially mean forcibly dragging a million-population settlement into a customs union, and at that point it would be difficult to say who was benefiting.

By comparison, introducing an intermediary currency was a much better choice. That way, Port Gallon could implement either loose or tight monetary policies based on its own economic needs. Inflation caused by overprinting currency would not impact the New Alliance market, while also reducing the damage caused by the devaluation of Xilande currency on the settlement’s finances.

As for the original Xilande currency, it could still circulate freely within the settlement. Survivors could also continue smuggling supplies needed by the harbor from other parts of Poro Province through whatever means they could manage.

However, certain imported goods transported from the New Alliance, including food and production tools priced in silver, could only be purchased using Gallon notes issued by the Port Gallon administration.

At the same time, all fiscal expenditures within Port Gallon, whether salaries or procurement payments, would gradually shift from settlement in “foreign currency” that was the Xilande currency to the newly issued Gallon.

Meanwhile, regional taxation would also transition to the new legal tender while maintaining the same tax rates. As for the authority to issue currency, naturally it belonged to the Port Gallon administration, with issuance handled by the Harbor District Bank.

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