World Conquest Online

Time passed as Dom and his four Hoplite stood at the side of the River. Helena had gone to her office inside the Dock with some of her daughters, the others on their boats waiting. Most of the villagers had gone on to other tasks nearby, they were all waiting for the call that it was time to load and unload.

Soon a dust cloud appeared in the distance from the direction of the Yellow Plains, One of Helena’s daughters moved her fishing boat across the river towards it, in preparation for who arrived. The river was still calm and she traversed it quickly.

Within a few minutes the first figures appeared, and thankfully they were holding their recognisable spears up high in the air as they arrived. The first one they noticed also wore a red cloak and pushed himself ahead of the rest to be the first to the shore.

"Looks like Leonidas is back!" Gregorios laughed, having built up a positive relationship with the Spartan over the last day or so.

"Your eyesight is fantastic." Dom commented.

Soon a couple of them clambered in to the boat and made their way across the water back towards the wharf. Dom instantly recognised Gan Ning sat beside Leonidas, with another spartan who must have been new sat beside them both. They soon reached the wharf and climbed out, heading down the Dock towards Dom and his guards.

"Hey Lord Lazarus, have you missed me?" Gan Ning laughed.

"Of course Commander Gan Ning." Dom laughed back, patting him on the shoulder in a sign of friendship. "How has it gone?"

"You have missed a lot of fun." Gan Ning replied, "Those Legionaries are fantastic, they have some ingenious ideas."

"I was also impressed." Leonidas added with a smile.

"So what has happened?" Dom asked wanting more information.

"We split in to three units, an exploration unit ran by Alexander, an engineering unit ran by myself and then a head quarters unit ran by Subutai." Gan Ning started. "Alexander has scouted down the other pathway, and had discovered some more rooms and damaged buildings, I am sure that he will feedback on that information. Myself and the Legionaries have created a pulley system using wood and rope, this has allowed us to move objects from the treasury up to the lake shore much simpler and with a lot less risk."

"That’s impressive, how was it designed?" Dom asked.

"It was a collaborative effort, water is my background and the Legionaries are good problem solvers. I think you’ll be impressed with what we brought back." Gan Ning continued, "We also worked clearing some of the central rubble so we could explore some of the damaged corridors, Subutai was leading on that and co-ordinating with our civilian contingent. The Blacksmiths were very excited!"

"So what is coming back?" Dom asked, impressed at how positive everything sounded.

"Well, a lot of the treasury is on it’s way back, but we’ll need to have it under guard, so I think it’s going in Subutai’s office for now." Gan Ning replied, "We also have a lot of weapons and materials from the Smithery. Alexander has also got some interesting goodies, but I am not sure on what they do, his contingent is at the rear, whilst my lot are at the front."

"Amazing!" Dom exclaimed, "Lucius is going to be ecstatic."

"I am sure he will be." Gan Ning replied, before looking towards Leon and Erastus. "How did your scouting go?"

"We found horses." Erastus replied, "lots of wild horses in a valley."

"I said it would be wild horses." Leonidas commented from behind Gan Ning.

"You did." Leon agreed, "They are strong horses as well, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a cavalry charge from them."

Soon more Hoplite appeared, with some villagers and Legionaries beside them. Helena had appeared by now and was directing the large raft that had been created across the water to the slight quickly made ramp that been made earlier. Soon Dom saw the Hoplite and Villagers loading the raft with sacks and boxes full of items, making sure to take their time loading so as to not tip the raft.

"Leonidas, please head to the Town Centre and get Mayor Lucius, also ask for Advisor Shang Yang." Dom ordered.

Leonidas nodded in acceptance of the order and ran off towards the Town Centre. A Spartan of his calibre was way above the station of a messenger, but he had accepted that he would follow orders from his team as they were fair with him.

"Advisor Shang Yang?" Gan Ning asked.

"Yes, he is our new domestic hero." Dom replied, "He is from Ancient China, and would rather advice myself and Lucius than take control."

"Is he the Shang Yang from the Qin in the Warring States Period?" Gan Ning asked, "Also known as Wei Yang?"

"That is the one." Dom replied, "Are you aware of him?"

"I am, he is a hero of his time." Gan Ning replied, "I may not be the most cultured, but I do know my history and writings, Senior Shang Yang’s reforms helped minor people like myself rise up, even if he was from a period further in history. My youngest son Gan Shu is very literate and is a huge fan of Legalism. One day I hope he joins us here, if it is the same senior Shang Yang, then he will be very excited."

Soon the raft was loaded and was pulled back across by the other two fishing boats, before reaching the ramp that had been placed on the shore for it by the Villagers. Some quickly moved to unload it, moving the goods to the Warehouse in the first instance for inspection.

The Legionary Macro had arrived on one of the fishing boats and was directing the Villagers with one of his colleagues on how to unload and where to place the goods.

"Let’s go to the warehouse." Dom announced, as he, Gan Ning, Gregorios and Trojan headed off, leaving the others behind.

Helena was inside the warehouse and was directing the Villagers on where to place things. The building was rather full, with items stacked neatly in different locations. Most of the items were from Gluttonous Chief’s Village, however there were now new piles forming from the goods from the Unknown Underground Ancient City.

"All items of worth are to be placed here!" Helena ordered, pointing to a central location. She pointed at two of the Villagers, "You and You, stay with these until some guards have arrived! Do not move unless I tell you to!"

With that Helena walked out of the warehouse and started to direct the next lot of items inside. Dom and Gan Ning headed over to the two Villagers and looked inside the boxes that had arrived. Inside were gold bars and jewels that were neatly stacked.

"There must be thousands worth of gold here." Dom stated.

"Yes there is." Gan Ning agreed, "And this is just the first box, in this trip alone there are at least fifty boxes worth."

"We are rich." Dom mumbled, he was well aware of the worth of the Treasury, but seeing it slowly arrive in Riverside was a different feeling.

Soon Lucius and Shang Yang arrived, following Leonidas. After some brief introductions between Shang Yang and the awe struck Gan Ning, they started to look through the boxes as well.

"Well." Shang Yang started, "There is definitely enough here for a strong currency, you won’t even need to use the currency of a larger state and the risks that fall in line with that. You have enough here to start your own."

"It is ideal." Lucius agreed, "When you said there was a Treasury, I didn’t think you meant this much."

"This is just the start." Gan Ning commented, "We didn’t empty it in one trip, and will need many more. There are also the materials that Subutai and Alexander are bringing back."

"With this wealth." Shang Yang continued, "If we can set up a trade route, we will be in a strong position to expediate our growth."

More and more boxes arrived, and the group left the warehouse and headed outside. Lucius had ordered two of the Legionaries who had stayed in the camp during the day to guard the wealth, before a large team arrived to take it to the Town Centre. Octavian and the other Legionnaires who had been around Riverside for the day would take over that part of the task, allowing those from the excursion to rest.

Gan Ning, Lucius, Shang Yang and Dom all stood on the rivers edge, waiting on the final trips from the two boats and raft. They were waiting for Subutai and the last items that he and Alexander were sending across.

When the final journey was completed, Alexander and Subutai finally arrived.

"Good Evening." Subutai stated with a smile on his face.

"Welcome back!" Dom greeted, tapping him on the shoulder in greeting like he did with Gan Ning.

"We have had a successful day." Subutai started, "As I am sure Gan Ning has already told you. I need three more days to empty what we have found so far, plus an additional three days minimum to safely clear the passageways and continue searching the other corridors. Within six days I would like to say we have completed our mission within the area and can continue to scout further in to the forest."

"That is great news." Dom agreed, "Did you find anything else worth while?"

"Before we continue." Lucius politely interrupted, "Will that time frame be with the current numbers, or also including future spawns? Will you also be directing the search?"

"No and No." Subutai replied, "That is based on current numbers, as I am sure that we will have lots of other things to do. In regards to managing the search, I believe Gan Ning or Tomyris on her return will be better based, I would like to plan ahead with yourself."

"This is a relief." Lucius replied, "Myself and Shang Yang have some plans and we need the additional resource."

"Let’s discuss this later." Dom continued, "What else did you find?"

"The Blacksmiths have said there are enough raw materials to set up a blacksmith shop in a busy city for a couple of years, but not enough to equip an army." Subutai stated, "We have brought one of the anvil’s back, which was very difficult I must add getting through the building and then through the underwater passage. I must commend Gan Ning and the Legionaries for their ideas. We don’t have a Smithy yet, but we couldn’t risk loosing out on such a good anvil."

"I agree!" Dom replied, "We have many buildings we need to build, and a smithy is high on my list so that we can continue to improve the armour and weapons of our Hoplite and Legionaries."

"As well as that." Alexander spoke finally, "We did find some additional rooms, most seemed like barracks with little excitement to share, just some weapons and armour, everything else was dust. However we did find an interesting room, It was a large empty hall, with broken pillars and statues that would have created a walkway down the centre. There were several skeletons jotted around as well, but none seemed to be as interesting as the ones Gan Ning mentioned by the Prince’s side. Inside the hall was a large throne, and beside it a chest."

"Maybe a throne room then?" Shang Yang commented.

"I do believe so." Alexander replied, "We were able to open the chest, and we found these inside."

Alexander pulled his sack from his back, and opened it up, laying the contents on the floor in front of Dom.

"What are these?" Shang Yang asked, noting that Lucius and Dom had excitement in their eyes.