Chapter 93: Training
After saying a few simple words, Caesar gave Ford his instructions.
"Go find Carol and have her register everyone and fill out their information. You need to accompany her through the entire process."
Caesar's eyes met Ford's. He could clearly see the confusion in them.
Caesar had to explain: "Although you weren't in charge for long, they'll definitely have some degree of trust in you. Go on!"
He waved his hand, letting Ford lead the crowd into the still-unfinished town.
Caesar turned around, his face wearing a warm and gentle smile. "Thank you all for welcoming our new companions. Now, everyone go back to your own business."
He clapped his hands, dismissing the crowd.
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Caesar sat in the council hall office, looking at the documents piled on his desk. He poked at them resentfully.
"Do I really have to review this many documents?"
Amy wore a form-fitting professional outfit with black stockings and red-soled high heels. Her already tall figure appeared even taller. She braced both hands on the office desk.
"Yes, and isn't it because you didn't properly review documents a few days ago? Yesterday you were riding your horse, leading everyone to herd the cattle and sheep."
"The day before yesterday, you went out with Daryl and the others to clear walkers."
Amy counted on her fingers, listing them one by one. As she counted, Caesar's large hand wrapped around her small one. "Alright, alright, stop counting. I get it."
Shaking his head, Caesar took a deep breath and looked at the documents before him.
The documents were actually all trivial matters, but Caesar could understand the ranch's current situation through them.
The ranch's territorial expansion speed was terrifyingly fast, thanks largely to Beth and Rip.
Beth was responsible for persuasion with words, Rip with his fists.
After Rip returned to Caesar's ranch, Caesar let him maintain his original position—that is, cowboy and shepherd, commonly called the head cowboy.
Previously he'd managed Lloyd, Colby, and the others.
Now, the surrounding ranches were being rapidly absorbed by Caesar's ranch. The grassland area was expanding quickly, and the cowboys from these ranches were also joining Caesar's ranch.
Caesar had these cowboys join under Rip's command. Colby, Tate, Lloyd, and Ryan—the four of them assisted Rip with management, essentially serving as deputy head cowboys.
Recently, Caesar could see from the documents that some cowboys were complaining that Rip was too strict and the like.
Caesar ignored them, casually tossing those documents aside. "From now on, you don't need to show me this kind of document. Just throw them away!"
Amy tilted her head, watching Caesar review the documents, and nodded. "Okay."
"They also want to be captains, but don't dare actually confront Rip directly, so they choose this method to come to me." Caesar laughed at these people's crude tactics.
"Ah, just be good cowboys."
Caesar continued reviewing.
Before long, a knock came from outside the door.
"Boss, I have something to report." It was Beth's voice.
Caesar raised his head, signaling Amy to open the door. He leaned back, the comfortable chair back letting his spine relax.
After the door opened, Beth and Rip walked in.
Beth held a document in her hand and placed it on Caesar's office desk.
Caesar picked up the document. As he flipped through it, Beth said: "These are the remaining ranches that haven't joined our ranch."
Caesar nodded, examining it carefully.
There weren't many ranches listed. When Beth had contacted the other ranches, she'd stated that Caesar wanted to acquire their ranches, using food as payment.
Most ranches readily agreed and joined Caesar's ranch completely.
A small portion of ranches, fearful of Caesar's ranch's strength, would also agree.
Finally, the remaining batch of stubborn holdouts appeared on the list.
Caesar counted carefully. There were over a dozen ranches listed—enough for him to go out and have some fun.
A smile curved at the corner of his mouth. Caesar looked up and met Amy's stern gaze, instinctively avoiding eye contact.
Caesar stood up, placing the document on the desk. As he walked out, he said: "Let's go. We need to quickly handle these ranches."
Amy stood with one hand on her hip, watching Caesar leave helplessly.
As Beth left, she waved at Amy. "We're leaving now, bye!"
Amy said: "Bye!"
Amy sighed and turned around to begin organizing the documents on Caesar's desk.
On the other side, the atmosphere was completely different.
A smile rose on Caesar's face. He changed into his bulletproof vest and other protective gear, then mounted his horse.
Coming out of the stable, Caesar patted Night Fury beneath him. "Today we get to go out for another run."
He gently squeezed with both legs. Night Fury understood and ran forward.
Caesar's Night Fury was generally kept in the small stable beside the stone house. The small stable only had two or three horses inside that no one else used.
Riding his horse, he arrived at the cowboy quarters.
The cowboy quarters had moved to a new location. According to the plan, it was placed on the town's outskirts and was built much larger than before.
All the single cowboys lived inside. Well, it had a bit of a men's dormitory feel.
Arriving at the cowboy quarters, Rip also brought the cowboys out.
The cowboys came out in great numbers—a full forty-plus people. They could already be considered the town's strongest force.
But the cowboys' attire wasn't uniform. They looked somewhat slovenly, and some even seemed not to follow Rip's orders.
This made Caesar frown.
Rip rode his horse over, approaching Caesar and facing his subordinate cowboys. "Are we taking the cowboys with us today?"
Caesar's gaze was like a sharp knife. Whenever it swept over a cowboy, that cowboy would immediately straighten up—looking strong on the outside but hollow within.
Caesar shook his head. "Take them back. They need to be properly disciplined. If I bring them out like this, I don't even dare imagine only a few people coming back!"
Bringing such a disobedient group to fight other factions?
Caesar was worried that with one charge, they'd rush straight at the enemy's faces and crash into their gun barrels.
Rip responded with a muffled sound. Although he hadn't been in charge long, they were still his subordinates. Rip could only be angry that his men weren't living up to expectations.
Rip approached the cowboys with a stern face, pointing at the cowboy quarters and cursing loudly: "You bunch of good-for-nothing wastes, get back inside!"
"Every one of you looking so careless—this is war! Do you want to die?"
"I'm telling you, if you die on the battlefield, no one will collect your bodies. When you turn into walkers, I'll still have to cut off your heads and bring them to your families."
"Get lost! Get back inside immediately!"
Rip glared at everyone, driving them away in a scrambling retreat.
Watching them slink away dejectedly, Rip let out a long sigh and came back to ask: "So do we use Daryl, Merle, or Glenn and his people?"
Currently the town had several combat squads. Daryl's people were all strong at wilderness survival, skilled at guerrilla killing.
Merle's people were rather reckless—fierce and fearless, skilled at frontal assaults.
Glenn's people had made the trip to King County, and their strength had also increased considerably.
Now there were also the newly organized combat squads under Frank and Ford, but their squads hadn't recruited enough people yet. For now, Caesar wouldn't bring them out either.