"Have a seat. Is the rain heavy outside?"
"What do you think? The rainy season is the one thing I hate most. These days of endless, unbroken rain—even when you're not getting wet, you still feel damp enough to grow mold. Just thinking about enduring another twenty-odd days of this makes me feel like I'm going to go mad." Fatty Shi grumbled as he walked over to the roaring fireplace, as if trying to bake the moisture out of his body.
Once Fatty Shi had warmed himself all over and settled onto the sofa, he ordered Genorio to bring him a bottle of fruit wine. Then he remembered Schwade and asked Lorist, "So, how's Schwade doing? His secluded cultivation is going well, I trust?"
Lorist nodded. "Yes, Laddy already went to Bedrock Fortress to check on him. Another half year and he'll be able to emerge. Before Bodfing headed back to the southern provincial border, he told me that as soon as Schwade comes out of seclusion, he wants him to marry Count
"Ha! Has Bodfing gotten so old his brain's gone soft? What is there to worry about?" Fatty Shi tactlessly badmouthed him behind his back. "Even if Count Filim is promoted to Duke, he'll still need to rely on our
Fatty Shi was telling the truth, and that was exactly how things stood. Even if Count Filim were elevated to Duke after the fall of the four central duchies, he would still have to follow the Norton Family's lead. If he severed ties with the four-family Alliance of the Northland, the covetous Fissabrun Family would devour him without a trace.
"But it is about time for Schwade to start a family. Katerina is a fine girl, well-suited to Schwade, and the two of them have a wonderful relationship. Once Schwade emerges from his seclusion, I've decided to let them marry first." Lorist took the fruit wine that Genorio brought over and took a satisfying sip. "How are the new immigrants settling in?"
This time, the refugees forcibly relocated from the Duchy of Phakel to the Northland numbered two hundred and thirty thousand. Combined with those migrated from the Duchy of Sabagi, the total exceeded four hundred thousand—meaning the entire Northland's population had now surpassed two million.
"No issues so far—no incidents or uprisings. Even the last batch of mountain captives from the Pedrona Hills have been quite docile, causing us no trouble." When Fatty Shi saw Lorist getting down to business, he hurriedly began rummaging through the documents he carried with him.
Mentioning the mountain captives from the Pedrona Hills, Lorist let out two disgruntled snorts through his nose: "These mountain captives must be kept under strict watch. Their temperament is truly unruly. You know, when we finally surrounded the Hot Spring Valley and left them with no way out, they still dared to pick up their weapons and continue fighting, causing over a thousand of our family soldiers casualties. It forced me to bring in Mallek's steel crossbow corps to carry out ranged volleys, wiping out the majority of their able-bodied fighters before they finally laid down their arms and surrendered.
Just like that Flundo mountain legion — even after we had surrounded their camp and their legion commander, that Golden Knight called the Mountain Norol, was cut down by Bodfing's sword, those mountain soldiers still relied on the camp walls and refused to surrender. In the end, we had to set fire to drive them out of the camp and cut them down. Just like that, a mountain legion of over thirty thousand fought to the death in their desperate situation, losing more than eighteen thousand, and the ten thousand or so mountain soldiers we captured were all wounded. So I've already given the order: the soldiers of that mountain legion and those mountain captives will serve eight years of hard labor — only after eight years will they earn their freedom..."
"Eight years? Your Highness, aren't you planning to conscript these mountain captives into the family's armed forces? By all rights, mountain folk with that kind of temperament would make excellent recruits," Fatty Shi said, somewhat puzzled.
Lorist shook his head: "These mountain folk are particularly unruly, and they have always been loyal to the Flundo Duchy, proud to be citizens of the Flundo family. And the Flundo family's policy toward the mountain folk for over a century has been to win their hearts — you don't know this, but for over a hundred years the mountain folk have only had to pay one kind of tax: the blood tax, serving as soldiers for the Flundo family. And the Flundo family reciprocated, designating the Pedrona Hills mountain region as an autonomous settlement zone for the mountain folk, letting them develop freely. So these mountain folk's loyalty to the Flundo family is carved into their very bones — they aren't like those soldiers who serve under other families or powers merely for a paycheck. It's very difficult to turn their allegiance..."
Fatty Shi nodded. Now that he understood the reasoning, he didn't intend to waste any more thought on these tens of thousands of mountain captives. After eight years of labor, the mountain folk would surely learn their place, and naturally they could be arranged to integrate into the family's territories. He pulled out a document and said to Lorist: "Your Highness, the resettlement plan for the newly relocated refugees is ready — would you like to review it?"
"Just implement the plan."
"Very well." Fatty Shi cleared his throat and read from the document: "This batch of refugees relocated to Windbury Royal City totals two thousand eight hundred and seventy-one households, with a combined population of ninety-eight thousand two hundred and thirty-six people. The majority are artisans and small merchants. We've arranged street-facing houses and large courtyards for them, convenient for opening shops and handcraft workshops. Once they've settled in, the economy of Windbury Royal City will see a major breakthrough in the second half of this year. Starting next year, Windbury Royal City is expected to once again become the livestock trading and leather goods processing center of the northeastern region.
The refugees relocated to the Northland total over three hundred and sixty thousand. They won't be settled in the three newly developed plains in the southern Northland — instead, they'll be placed in the eastern Northland region, in Xingchang Plain and Kangtai Plain, which are scheduled to be built this year. As for Pingfeng Plain, Ping'an Plain, and Pingkang Plain in the southern Northland, which have already been completed — since they are situated around the capital Ursad City, the family has decided to select a portion of loyal subject families from Fangle Plain, Xing'an Plain, and Honghe Plain to relocate there. The remaining half will be allocated to soldiers retiring over the next three years to establish families on these three plains.
Additionally, one hundred refugee households — totaling over thirteen thousand people — have been distributed to each of the vassal territories under the family's jurisdiction, to develop the economies and village construction of the vassal family domains. That is essentially the full allocation and distribution plan. After the rainy season, we will transport these new immigrants to their assigned locations and distribute land and housing to them, aiming to complete resettlement before August. Your Highness, is there anything you'd like modified?"
Lorist thought for a moment and said: "This is fine. The plan is good and doesn't need any changes. Bring it here, I'll sign it, and have the people below carry it out."
While Lorist was still signing, Fatty produced another document: "Your Highness, this is the report Master Cide submitted at the end of last year. It states that he has successfully used spring steel to trial-produce a new personal cavalry crossbow, dramatically reducing costs. According to the report, the cost of each crossbow currently stands at just seven gold Forde and eight large silver coins. I approved a special allocation of three thousand gold Forde for him, with the requirement that he bring the cost down to under five gold Forde and develop mass-production capability..."
Lorist was very pleased: "This means the standard-issue ranged weapon for the Hunt Cavalry Corps can finally be resolved. But do you know anything about the crossbow's range, power, rate of fire, and shot capacity?"
Fatty broke into a cold sweat: "Your Highness, I'm afraid I don't—I was only focused on the cost... A heavy crossbow runs between two and three gold Forde. I figured the crossbow's range and power would need to be at least double that of a heavy crossbow to match the punch of a longbow. So even a cost double that would still be acceptable..."
Lorist held up Master Cide's report: "It doesn't say here either. Seems like Master Cide wants to keep the details under wraps. Here's what we'll do—send a letter to Josk and have him select a hundred loyal and reliable elite light cavalrymen from the Hunt Cavalry Corps. After the rainy season, they are to report to Master Cide's location for a field test of the crossbow, so we can finalize the design. Since this is a weapon meant for actual combat, those light cavalrymen are the ones whose opinions matter most. And don't be too demanding on the price, lest it compromise quality."
"Understood, I'll see to it," Fatty replied.
The two then discussed several more matters before a knock came at the door. Genorio entered to announce: "Your Highness, Lord Tagel is here."
Tagel had come to deliver an intelligence summary on the conflict between the Forde Commercial Alliance and the allied forces of the South-Central Kingdom. Although Lorist had been at the front lines of the Four Central Duchies last year, he had still picked up scattered pieces of information about the war raging across the central and southern continent—most of it relayed by messenger hawks and extremely brief. Now that he had returned to Wrathbear City, he had ordered Tagel to bring over all the newspapers and intelligence reports sourced from
Tagel carried in a stack of newspapers nearly as tall as a man and set them down in the study—these were practically every one of the seven or eight newspapers published in Morant City over the past year. After setting down the pile, Tagel handed Lorist a folder: "Your Highness, this contains the summaries and intelligence compiled from those newspapers."
Lorist took the folder, opened it, and after a quick glance his eyes went wide and he shot to his feet: "What?! The Storm Sword Saint from the destroyed Kelia Kingdom has taken control of Morant City?"
Fatty was startled by Lorist's reaction: "What did you say?"
Tagel smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, I already reported this to you via hawk message..."
Lorist said sheepishly: "Sorry, Tagel, at the time I was focused on intelligence about the four central duchies. I didn't pay attention to this."
Tagel rummaged through the pile of newspapers and pulled out a dozen or so: "Your Highness, the detailed reports about the Storm Sword Saint from the Kingdom of Kelia accepting the Forde Commercial Alliance's invitation to travel to Morant City are all in these dozen or so newspapers. However, this Storm Sword Saint is rather low-key. He gave an interview at the banquet the Alliance hosted on his first day of arrival and then went straight into seclusion. The Alliance's enforcement agencies were also very cooperative in preventing those newspapers from continuing to follow up on the story. So aside from about half a month of fuss, this matter didn't create much of a ripple. However, the Alliance's forces on the front line did see their morale rise considerably with a Sword Saint backing them..."
."
Lorist pondered for a moment. The Storm Sword Saint taking up residence in Morant City meant that the Forde Commercial Alliance now had a nation-guarding Sword Saint. For His Highness the
But Lorist was quite curious about what price the Alliance had actually paid to recruit this Storm Sword Saint: "Tell me, if the Second Prince wanted to hire this Storm Sword Saint, what price do you think he'd be willing to pay?"
What did this have to do with the Second Prince? Fatty Shi and Tagel were both somewhat stunned. But since Lorist had posed the question, the two still tried to formulate careful answers.
Tagel said: "At minimum, a yearly stipend of a hundred thousand gold Forde, and on top of that, choosing a location to build him a dojo for passing down his sword arts..."
Fatty Shi shook his head: "That's not enough. Those terms are no different from what the Storm Sword Saint had back in the Kingdom of Kelia. If the Second Prince wanted to recruit this Sword Saint, he'd need to offer him an entire province as family territory and grant him the title of Duke of that domain."
Lorist laughed: "That's probably about right. But the Alliance managing to recruit this Storm Sword Saint is truly not good news for His Majesty the King. You know he's always had the reunification of the former Empire on his lips. I really want to see his expression when he hears this news. Even if he destroys the four central duchies, he'll still be facing the giant that is the Commercial Alliance. I think for the next few years, until he figures out how to deal with this Storm Sword Saint, our King will calm down some and stop causing trouble."
"The rainy season will soon be over, and I'll be leading the Flying Tiger Legion back to the front lines of the Central Duchies. Right now, only the Duchy of Handra remains, but it's gathered the military might of all four duchies. Add the restrictive terrain into the mix, and this won't be an easy fight. It might even take another year. I'm counting on you all to handle the family's affairs. Tagel, pay close attention and gather more intelligence on the Commercial Alliance's campaigns with the Kingdom of Mid-South. Any major events or shifts, send word to me immediately."
"Understood, Your Highness." Tagel bowed in reply.
...