"Well the first thing you wanted was some key trades filling up, there were plenty of slaves in the slave markets that filled those requirements. So I purchased many slaves." Crassus started, with a confident smile.
"How Many?" Lucius asked seriously, excitement visible on his face.
"347 in total." Crassus replied with a grin.
"How did you get away with that?" Meritamen asked quickly, a look of shock at the large number of people that they were talking about.
"A bit of acting on mine and Cassius's parts." Crassus replied. "We primarily did purchases in bulk, if we had let the slave merchants know that we were after so many things, the prices would have sneaked up quite quickly. Instead we separated upon arrival and looked for different opportunities instead. I searched for key craftsmen whilst Cassius aimed for family units."
"So what can we expect?" Dom asked in anticipation.
"Around 120 people that are either farmers or related to farming, some of those come with families who could help in those areas." Crassus began, his memory perfect when it came to figures and facts.
"They definitely could." Lucius agreed happily, "Picking fruit from trees and bushes, helping care for the animals. Family units are key when it comes to successful farming. We are in desperate need for more people to help with the farming side, so this is welcome news."
"Exactly my thinking." Crassus replied, before continuing, "Around 100 people are craftsmen of some sort, we targeted those that were our priority. We would have purchased more but those with a good trade were hard to come by and were already sold in private markets or to the Town leadership. Most of the slaves available are refugees that have been sold in to slavery, so they have had a very hard time as of recent. The main crafts we were able to cover with our purchases were Potters, Stonemasons, Carpenters and Woodworkers, plus some Metalworkers and Weavers."
"Just what we needed then, a variety of strong tradesmen who can increase our growth exponentially. We'll need to get the family heads involved so they can split the distribution of resources. I'm also sure that Himilco will want some of the woodworkers in the shipyard." Dom happily said, feeling this was a good problem to have to solve. "What have you promised them?"
"Nothing as of yet, other than we will give them the necessities. They are just aware that they are joining a new town growing in the wilderness and that the Lord is a kind leader. You can introduce yourself later if you want to?" Crassus replied. "I haven't promised them freedom or anything, but most seem positive based on the little information myself and Cassius have shared. They have had a hard time, so the promise of food and a roof was enough."
"Thank you for the positive introduction, I'll make sure to stick to that. I'll inform them that they are no longer slaves, but owe us a debt for their freedom." Dom stated, "What about the rest?"
"I probably spent the most of the gold buying the last group slaves, I think these are probably the most important ones. We purchased 120 attractive female's who were young, could learn and hopefully fertile. Both myself and Cassius got in to bidding wars over different batches." Crassus replied. "There were a few I got a little carried away with and may have bided a bit to much, but I just can't resist a pretty face."
"Why did you buy the attractive females?" Lucius questioned. "Do they have any particular skills that can help with the growth of Riverside? We need everyone working as we have more mouths to feed by the day."
"We have just purchased over a hundred single men, if we want a growing community we need both genders. We are already male heavy with most of our soldiers being male. other than the horse archers. If we want to promote natural growth then we need a bit of variety. I thought some females could help with that." Crassus said, before adding, "We also have a wide variety of trades that can be taught to them, so I look at this as 120 apprentices who aren't male."
"Surprisingly a valid reason." Meritamen commented seriously. "There are too many men."
Tomoe nodded her head in agreement, whilst the rest gave Crassus a thumbs up on the inside.
"And it's always nice to see a pretty face." Gregorios commented from the side with the other guards, before realising that he probably wasn't supposed to speak during this meeting.
"So that is the slaves then, I look forward to seeing them disembark, we'll need to get Wang Shu to increase the house building capacity." Dom commented, ignoring Gregorios' comment. "What else did you buy?"
"A large variety of seeds and some juvenile fruit trees. We won't see much from them this year, but I thought it would give Lucius time to plant them and help grow our food variety." Crassus continued.
"It is appreciated." Lucius replied. "We are slowly expanding further and further east. I hope that eventually all of the east from here to the sea will be Riverside's food supply."
"We can always hope." Dom agreed.
"I also bought a few animals for my Zoo that I will be building, the Panda's, some exotic Snakes, a strange armoured creature called an Armadillo and some Wild Pigs." Crassus said. "I did look for schematics, but I didn't come across much in the places I visited."
"Snakes?" Meritamen interrupted, "I love Snakes, where are you going to store them for now?"
"That's not important right now." Dom politely stated, moving the conversation swiftly back to it's main topic. "It is a shame you were unable to get any schematics."
"It is, but it's not the end of that route." Crassus replied. "We made contact with some interesting people and have offered them employment and relocation, this included some architects and junior civil officials. As well as the 347 slaves, we have also hired 9 highly educated junior civilian professionals, who have passed local examinations, but could not find an exciting post."
"Can they be trusted?" Lucius questioned.
"Oh definitely not." Crassus replied, "Well not all of them anyway, but we'll split them in to different areas and slowly bring them round to our way of thinking, they'll be Riversiders in no time."
"Anyone of note?" Lucius asked, wondering if Crassus had just put a problem in his hands..
"A few, there is a scholar with a deep understanding of history." Crassus started, "A young female architect that can support Sostratus and two brothers who both passed the civil administration exams. They were unable to get a civil posting as one of them is not what you would call an ideal looking person for such a key role, and the other refused to work if his brother didn't get a role. I have high hopes for all four. One of the brothers I can see managing the Bank, where as the others could work on city planning."
"We can pick this up with Shang Yang and Xun Yu, and together we can make a long term plan on how to integrate all of these new people." Lucius commented, deep in thought of the next steps.
"Xun Yu?" Crassus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We have some new members to Riverside." Dom interjected with a laugh, "It has been an interested few days whilst you have been gone. It will be great when you get to meet everyone later. Was there any other news?"
"Everything does look a lot bigger." Crassus commented as he looked around. "There were some private auctions taking place as well, but with the timeframes we had I didn't think it was the right time to get involved and dirty to much water. Crixus has stayed behind to gather more information and set up an intelligence network, hopefully we can get an invite to some of the future auctions through the relationships he can build. I did also buy 50 Wine Amphoras for our next celebration."
"Wine sounds like the best purchase so far!" Meritamen exclaimed, with approval from Lucius and Tomoe who continued to listen of question Crassus as he went through his trip.
"How about the Mercenaries we wanted to hire?" Dom asked seriously.
"I have had success, we shall have around 300 Warriors arrive tomorrow, I have had hem land to the east of the farmlands so they don't delve in to the heart of Riverside." Crassus replied with a smile. "They are a mixed bunch with a variety of skills, they are mainly tattooed warriors covered in blue ink, they will be a great charging force against our enemies. I will introduce their company captain to you tomorrow when they arrive."
"They sound like northerners?" Lucius asked Crassus, referring back to their native Rome.
"They are definitely Celtic of some kind, potentially Britannic." Crassus replied. "They are a friendly enough bunch, but no match for a strong Roman Legion."
...
Soon the Merchant ships had arrived and the passengers disembarked, some had stayed to help unload the other variety of purchases that Crassus had made, which also included a variety of furniture for the Heroes houses that were being built in the city plan.
The Slaves that disembarked were directed to outside the Great Hall of the Town Centre, where Xun Yu slowly began the strenuous task of registering each one of them and assigning them temporary housing. The tents from Banas's tribe were once again put to good use as Wang Shu and the other builders worked tirelessly to put up accommodation.
Dom introduced himself to all of the new people, explaining their new positive position of freedom, based on hard work and loyalty to Riverside. This had caused an eruption of cheers from the trepid Slaves, who were now free men and women of Riverside.
The 9 Civil Officials that had been hired by Crassus had soon been split and assigned tasks by Shang Yang and Xun Yu, who were both in desperate need of middle management level staff to help manage the rapidly growing city.
Dom had also met with the Captain Elon from the lead Bireme and after a brief conversation about the sailors, discovered that they were Phoenician, a culture of sea farers who travelled across the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea of ancient times, before even the Ancient Greeks and Macedonians had amassed successful empires.
Dom soon assigned the Bireme's to Gan Ning, who was more than happy to have his small fleet of 1 grow by 3 more. He had discussed plans to move crew across the ships in the coming days so as to have his trusted men on all of the ships, and the experienced Phoenicians helping the Galatea crew get to grips with the towering Trireme.
...
Dom was continuing to talk with Crassus when he received a notification.
[Lords and Leaders Auction will begin in one hour, please prepare to leave.]
[Due to player finishing in the Top 10 Lord Class Players, Player can bring 2 people to accompany them to the Auction]
[Due to player finishing Top of the Lord Class Players, Player will be granted the largest Private Suite at the Auction]
[Please note, no weapons are allowed to be taken and safety is guaranteed by the World Conquest Online administrators]
"Are you ok Lord Lazarus?" Crassus asked as he noticed Dom had stopped listening to his tales.
"I can take two people with me to a special Auction that is starting in an hour." Dom replied seriously, in deep thought.
"Then who are you taking?" Crassus asked.