The Military Officer looked at the faces lit up by hope below the stage. He knew in his heart that these words had moved them. The mission was basically successful.
Following instructions, he told everyone to return home and prepare the unique token for each family, adding softly:
"We will send people to find a way to deliver these tokens, along with Lord Solomon's promise, into the mountains."
Considering they might have channels to contact their family members inside the mountains, using both approaches would be more authentic:
"Or you yourselves, find a way to tell everyone in the mountains."
The Military Officer scanned the audience, his gaze sweeping over those expectant eyes one by one.
"Their families are waiting for them to come home."
This sentence made many shed tears again, but this time, they were tears of hope.
However, the Military Officer's next words were like a basin of ice water poured onto the just-ignited flame. His voice suddenly turned cold, carrying an inexplicable chill that cooled everyone's just-warmed hearts, striking each person's soul.
"But also make them understand clearly! Lord Solomon's mercy! Only comes once!"
The temperature in the council chamber seemed to plummet.
"If they resist to the end! Refuse Lord Solomon's mercy! Then..."
The Military Officer paused, deciding to improvise. He enunciated every word heavily, ferociously, as if pronouncing a sentence:
"Your public land! Your stability! Will also turn into bubbles!"
"Because on Lord Solomon's land! No rebel's family remains!"
"Their names! Their lives! Even your names! Your lives! Will be forever!!! Thoroughly erased from this land!!!"
The last sentence was light, but carried the weight of ten thousand jun, silencing the entire council chamber.
Hope and fear, grace and threat, were perfectly bound together.
The power of choice seemed to be handed to the bandits in the mountains, but in reality, the true shackles were already placed around the necks of these family members in the council chamber.
Their expectations, their tears, the tokens they prepared would become the sharpest weapons piercing their family members' hearts. The road home was paved.
At the end of the road, perhaps there was land and new life, perhaps abyss and destruction.
The three officials rose and left, leaving behind the crowd in the silent council chamber.
The crowd slowly dispersed, beginning to try to contact their family members hiding in the mountains through their respective secret channels.
Just one day later.
In the Lion's Den, Evelyn was vividly describing her vision for the second phase of the project to Solomon. Solomon responded with smiles, occasionally giving a few pointers, earning worshipful gazes from the woman.
Solomon lamented inwardly: Is this what it feels like to be a genius? Unexpectedly, I, a semi-literate basketball player, can be a genius here.
"Lord Solomon—!" A guard came to report, looking awkwardly at the strange atmosphere flowing between the two, almost out of breath. "Outside, the Administrative Officer of South-Gorge Fort is asking for an audience with a dozen ragged people."
This group was brought directly to the Lord's Hall of the Lion's Den. The hall had taken shape; the dim refracted light and candlelight further highlighted the majesty of the hall.
Solomon sat on the main seat, his gaze calmly sweeping over these dozen men who lowered their heads and cowered.
They still carried the wildness and bloody scent of the mountain forests, but at this moment, they were more like a flock of lost lambs, panic-stricken.
Twenty soldiers stood on both sides, hands on sword hilts, standing proudly.
Solomon didn't start an interrogation, nor did he give them a second glance. He just nodded slightly to Evelyn.
Evelyn, holding a stack of wooden tablets, walked up to them.
Although the disguise on her face was so ugly, her voice was gentle and clear, like a clear spring in a mountain stream, washing away everyone's nervous nerves:
"Lord Solomon keeps his promises." She handed the first document to Laban, who knelt directly on the ground seeing her approach. "This is your public land tablet. It has your name and your family's address in South-Gorge Fort."
"Go home. Your mother and your brother are waiting for you."
Solomon, witnessing everything, squeezed the armrest of the Lord's chair. This is the advantage of the system. As long as there is a name, I can directly know his family's information. This feeling of having everything under control.
Laban was stunned. He slowly raised his hand, fingertips touching that tablet as if burned, then jerked back.
He couldn't believe it. Really no trial, no whipping, and even more no noose. Really only a land tablet promising the future.
He looked up at Solomon sitting high above. The young lord's eyes showed no joy or anger, but carried a power that allowed no denial.
"Take it!" Solomon's voice rang out. Not loud, but clearly entering everyone's ears. "Farm the land well! Take care of your family!"
Laban finally took the wooden tablet, clutching it tightly in his hand as if clutching his new life. He kowtowed heavily, then stood up. Guided by the guards, he walked step by step toward the South-Gorge Fort Administrative Officer waiting outside the door.
One by one, documents were distributed to everyone's hands.
Some of them, because their hands were covered in mud, carefully wiped them on their clothes again and again before daring to accept that thin, yet heavy-as-a-thousand-jin wooden tablet.
South-Gorge Fort. The family members who hadn't slept all night had long gathered in the clearing in front of the fort. Their gazes pierced the thick fog, staring fixedly at the path entering the fort.
No one spoke. Everyone's eyes were filled with anxious expectation.
Finally, they saw their Administrative Officer walking from the direction of the path, followed by a dozen people.
They were in rags, hair matted like grass, faces covered in gullies carved by wind and frost. But they held their heads high. Although their steps were stumbling, they left heavy footprints.
There was no despair on their faces, only the hope of running toward new life. They held the wooden tablets tightly in their hands. The worn-out swords they once gripped tightly had long been discarded in some corner of the mountains.
The crowd stirred, voices bubbling over, craning their necks to identify them.
"It's Laban! Amy's Laban!"
A scream pierced the crowd. The widow Amy, holding her little son, pushed through the crowd, practically kneeling as she rushed toward the young man in the lead.
She dared not touch him, just covered her mouth with trembling hands, tears bursting from her eyes.
"Thank you for Lord Solomon's mercy." A thousand words eventually became just this one sentence.
The young man looked up. The moment he saw his mother and brother, the face of a sixteen-year-old that had weathered storms could no longer hold back. His knees went soft, and he knelt heavily on the mud, letting out suppressed whimpers.
"May the Seven bless Lord Solomon."
"I told you! Lord Solomon never breaks his promises!"
"True! It's all true!"
The crowd praised Lord Solomon's mercy. A truly benevolent lord, never seen before. So lucky to be ruled by such a benevolent master. People's eyes filled with tears.
The three Administrative Officers looked at each other, revealing joyful smiles. Lord Solomon evaluated Administrative Officers every year, and the direction of the evaluation was exactly the various achievements in managing the Military Forts. Does this count as our governance achievement too?!
This news seemed to grow wings, spreading through the entire territory faster than the fastest messenger.
Lord Solomon honored his promise. No retaliation, no punishment, only land.
This news itself was the sharpest weapon. It easily crushed the last thought of resistance in the mountain bandits' minds.
The next day, the stream of people going down the mountain converged into a brook.
Some sneaked out of the camp at night, carrying children's clothes in their arms, running down the mountain crying alone.
Some were groups of three or five friends who discussed all night and finally decided to walk out of the mountain forest collectively.
On the third day, the brook converged into a river.
People going down the mountain came in an endless stream, even causing congestion at several Military Fort registration offices.
The Administrative Officers were so busy their feet didn't touch the ground, checking identities while soothing the emotional crowd.
An even more unexpected surprise for Solomon followed.
Some families who were not bandits also walked out of the deep mountains and old forests.
They were refugees hiding from the harsh rule of Westerosi nobles, or fugitives fearing punishment for violating lords' shameless laws.
Dragging their families along, sallow and emaciated, their eyes were filled with fear of the unknown and a trace of longing for stability.
In this world, no one didn't yearn to live a stable life with their family, just never having such an opportunity.
Hearing of Solomon's benevolence and the promise of land distribution, they mustered their courage, holding the last hope, and requested to become Lord Solomon's subjects.
Solomon looked at the latest census compiled by Evelyn, his lips pressed into a line, revealing a smile.
This is called "Attacking the Heart is Superior," "Settled by Proclamation."
In just a few days, the territory gained over six hundred people out of thin air, including over two hundred able-bodied men.
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