"They never listen to the poor women's arguments, just look at whether the money paid is enough or not. According to different amounts, they will be beaten, disfigured, chopped hands and feet, or even beheaded."

Hearing this, Marquis Brackbarn felt a shock and asked subconsciously: "Beheading... are you sure?"

"This is just one of the death penalty for the gang, and it is the most "gentle" and "kind" one." Earl Commer's expression and voice were a little sad: "The worst thing I have ever seen them is a pile of minced meat. It was a few years ago when I got the news that I took people to a mill by the river outside the city. Two girls did not complete the task of the month and did not pay enough money. They were thrown into the dough mill and mixed with the crushed chaff."

Marquis Brackbarn leaned forward slightly, feeling that some of the aspects of his neglect of the city were being completed by the police chief's narrative.

"It is not common to dismember corpses. The most common method used by gangsters is to behead their heads. This is a normal replacement of old and new in the underground controller. On the one hand, it is to urge women to make money desperately, and on the other hand, it is to establish an elimination mechanism to kill old and weak women, and at the same time establish authority for newly joined women. Everyone has different amounts of career payment every week. If they fail to complete the task, they will take them out of the city and cut off their heads in secluded places."

"If you have been to the taverns on the riverside of the East and South Districts, especially Sundays, you will find that the women there are very anxious and indescribable eagerness. They try their best to win over guests, dress more beautifully, and wear very exposed. It's fine in summer, but I have seen them standing outside in winter wearing only a layer of gauze, with their faces blue in cold weather. They are very proactive on weekends, and the transaction price is lower than usual."

"Those gangs killed people outside the city and were too lazy to bury them most of the time. I can tell you a few places, and you will know that they are full of rotten wrecks that emit stench."

Marquis Brackbarn was very smart, and he keenly realized that the police chief was saying these words: "You mean, should you deal with the gangsters in London first?"

Earl Commer did not answer directly, and he continued in a calm and indifferent tone: "There are also men, many of them are missing. The police stations in the East and South Districts receive reports of missing populations every day. There are children? Women? There are strong men, but there are no elderly or patients. The numbers of these missing people are very subtle? There are not too many or too few? In short, they are in the kind that will not be taken seriously by the king and are dispensable."

The Marquis frowned: "What the hell do you want to say? I don't have time to listen to your story."

The police chief raised his head? The cold eyes contained anger: "You are the military minister and my immediate boss. All the funds of the police department come from the military expenditure decided and allocated to you at the Annual Financial Meeting of the Kingdom. Since I took over as the police chief more than 20 years ago, the police in the capital has not increased. I have submitted no less than a thousand reports of frequent crimes and increased police appropriations? Every time your reply is either "responsive" or rejection."

Marquis Brackbarn doesn't like being criticized in person: "Isn't it enough for this city to have thousands of police officers?"

Earl of Commer retorted: "Twenty years ago, there were only more than 2.3 million people in the city of London. Now? The population of this city has exceeded three million. The population is increasing? But the managers are still the same as before... I mentioned this more than once in the report, why do you never pay attention to it?"

A hint of anger appeared on the Marquis' face: "The security of the kingdom is the most important thing. We are facing direct threats against the territory of the northern giants."

"So that's why you repeatedly reduce the benefits to the poor?" The police chief is not a tolerant person, and is also on the verge of an outbreak: "Look at what you do? High taxes are used to fill the holes in military expenditure, and the arms dealers are fed by you to fatten them? The poor are not even full of the worst black bread. Is there a lot of ration per capita for three months? And what I ask for is not the top ration, just the most basic vegetables and salt. Look at your army? The soldiers have soup and bread every day, butter and sausage..."

"Don't confuse the two." Marquis Brackbarn interrupted him? He said bluntly: "Soldiers are hard to train? Only a good meal can keep them physically."

"Don't think I don't know anything. The army is the basis of your power to control the kingdom. The best treatment for the soldiers? They will support you and obey your orders." The police chief sneered: "You should go and see the people in the slums and see what they are eating."

This is simply a meaningless conversation!

Marquis Brackbarn stood up from his chair, tidied up his collar, and issued a majestic and indifferent order: "It is time for war, and you must maintain normal order in the capital. The vanguard of the northern giants will arrive soon, and I do not want to see civil unrest."

After pausing, the Marquis said seriously: "If you don't do it well, I will let another person take your place."

Earl Como shook his head lightly: "If there is no three months of ration, it will be the same no matter who you change."

"At most, two weeks of food are given." Marquis Brackbarn issued an ultimatum: "Actually, the method you just mentioned is very good."

Earl Commer looked at him in confusion: "What's the solution?"

"The way to deal with women by slum gangs." Marquis Brackbarn turned and walked towards the door, and his cold voice echoed in the room: "If you fail to complete the task, kill, behead or dismember the corpse. This is indeed a good way to replace fresh blood. Only cunning and treacherous people will give conditions at this time, so let them all die. I will leave the best treatment for heroic battles, those who are willing to go to the battlefield and obey orders honestly."

...

As night falls, the city of London falls into a new round of chaos.

According to the order of Marquis Brackbarn, the regular army took over all defensive buildings on the periphery of the city before nightfall. It began to strengthen and repair from now on, and the preliminary construction of the periphery positions will be completed within two days.

The main part of the new fortification is to dig trenches. This is the experience brought by the lucky survivors from the Northern War. Marquis Brackbarn conducted an experiment and the trenches can indeed reduce combat casualties, especially the multi-level strip-shaped defense circle with the city as the core, plus the reasonable proportion of the insurgent and artillery, the defense effect is at least several times that of the traditional linear array.

Marquis Brackbarn, on the one hand, lamented the combat wisdom of the northern giants, and on the other hand, issued the most severe combat order in the history of the Saxon Kingdom.

The militia and police were mobilized comprehensively, and based on them, drove civilians out of the city to dig trenches.

In fact, this matter is not very important——Laiwen Port is too close to the capital, and the news of its fall comes too late. The scouts returned that the Giant Pioneer Army was less than two days away from London.

Marquis Brackbarn was an action-oriented party. He believed that as long as the whole city worked together, it would be no problem to dig a sufficiently long trench in just one day. Three million and four, except for the nobles and special groups with sufficient reasons not to participate in the trench digging, at least two and eight million people must participate in the digging.

Thousands of people dragged away from their homes, picked up tools at various streets and intersections, and guided by officers and supervisors to the prescribed areas and began to dig.

This is a chaotic prelude that starts from midnight. Police and militias start searching in residential areas, driving people to nearby open spaces to concentrate.

“You have to work and have to be dedicated.”

"The northern giant is coming soon, we must defend the city. Whether we can win this battle depends on whether we can dig a long enough trench before the giant arrives."

"Citizens, this is your responsibility and your obligation."

Those who stand up for public doubts about the so-called "responsibility and obligations" have been arrested, take off their clothes and whip them on the back, and then hang them on the wall with iron chains, dying.

There are also those who refuse to obey. They either argue with the soldiers or fight violently, but their mouths and fists can never beat the musket. They were shot and killed on the spot, with as many as thousands of dead.

No one wants to ask for the so-called "reason" from the military. At least one million people have not obtained tools because they really can't find so many shovels or hoes. But they can't be idle because they have to dig with their hands and have to complete the military's engineering plan before sunset.

Marquis Brackbarn personally took out the carriage that transported goods out of the city and came to the construction site. First, to supervise the progress of the project, and second, to reduce hostility from the people.

To prove that it was not driven in vain or forced labor, Marquis Brackbarn prepared a hearty lunch for them—the best white bread, covered with thick butter on the surface, and scrambled eggs and bacon in the middle. Vegetable soup is a specialty of the Saxon Kingdom, fragrant with peanuts and lard, and thick tomatoes and cabbage on the surface.

Such a meal is worth at least twelve pence, and workers who work in manual labor in cargo yards and businesses can only earn this every day.

The Marquis wanted to make as friendly as possible. He picked up the prepared lunch from the carriage and handed it out. He kept smiling in front of his eyes full of doubt and questioning.

It must be admitted that doing so did produce the effect of application, and with explanations from the attendants, people quickly believed that this was indeed a misunderstanding, a military work that the kingdom must and for its own safety.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer also participated in the lunch distribution.

Marquis Brackbarn stood with him, looking at the people sitting on the construction site swallowing bread with big mouthfuls, and laughed: "It looks good."

Lawtons nodded expressionlessly and said nothing.

The Marquis looked at him sideways: "You seem to be unhappy with my approach?"

The Chancellor did not deny: "You do this and force labor, even though you offered a hearty lunch."

Marquis Brackbarn turned his eyes to the dense crowd in the distance: "This is my payment method, and some people are certainly unwilling to accept it, but they can only get this."

Laurent sighed: "I don't want to argue with you. I've done it anyway, and it's meaningless to talk about these things now... Just follow your ideas and as long as you can win this battle, all problems can be solved."

The Marquis was quite surprised by this and turned around and stared at the Chancellor of the Exchequer: "You seem to have changed your attitude towards me?"

"We stand on the same side in the face of war." Laurent said bluntly: "But this does not mean that I agree with your compulsory military control measures. There are too many disadvantages to doing so and it is easy to lead to corruption."

After a brief silence, Brack Barn said seriously: "I promise you to end all this as soon as possible."

...

Things did not move in the direction the Marquis most hoped.

In the early morning of the next day, Zhuochi led the vanguard of the Marine Corps to the city of London.

The mist enveloped the woods and wilderness. In the northern field, a group of fully armed giant soldiers appeared far away. They were tired of traveling overnight, but overall they were in good spirits. The large trucks made from local materials from Laiwen Port were filled with weapons and ammunition, and various military rations loaded above the soldiers' heads.

Forty thousand infantrymen and fifty one hundred and five millimeter cannons, which are all the troops currently under the control of the storm.

The successor troops were coming from the direction of Laiwen, but the number was small, only 15,000 people.

The main force led by Tianhao is even further away. Although the entire Morent County occupied is a logistics base and the forward troops have entered Gondor County, the speed of progress inevitably slowed down due to the battle... However, the day before yesterday, the Baitiao received a secret communication from the White-headed Eagle. Thirty thousand cavalrymen have gone south. They carried rations and beans for ten days with them and will arrive at the outskirts of London the afternoon of the day after tomorrow.

There is a shortcut from Gondor County to London. It is a way to avoid major cities and go south from rocky mountainous areas. As early as a few years ago, people from the Alpso Trading Company gathered information and drew maps everywhere. Rajesh's "Temple Mercenary Group" also obtained a large number of confidential documents from the military headquarters in the name of assisting local troops in siege and killing bandits. The most important part of them includes the "Gondor Mountain Secret Passage".

"Secret Road" is called in writing, but it is actually a canyon. Gondor County is located in an arid area and has little rainfall every year. Its population and crop cultivation area are far less than other Saxon provinces. The western mountainous areas are made of rocks, and the coverage rate of surface vegetation is pitiful, less than 0.1%. This kind of place is not suitable for living, and there are even very few animals.

A sharp triangle formed between the canyon and the densely populated city. In fact, the Saxon high-level leaders had thought of completely renovating the canyon into a highway to shorten the distance between the north and the south. However, considering the threat of the north, the plan was eventually locked into a safe.
Chapter completed!