Here's the second bonus chapter of the week courtesy of Daniel B. from the USA. Sorry I wasn't able to do more chapters this week. As today was father's day, I was only able to find time to edit the chapter I did late night yesterday. Hope you guys enjoy the read nevertheless!
With a stern expression, Lorist was seated within the tent and looking at the crestfallen knights of his family.
"Well, explain. Why aren't you saying anything even though all of you dared to go overboard? While having more manpower will add to our might, do we have enough to feed them all? The Felicitas Settlement has only just recently stabilized and we still need to send food there for this year as they can only begin to sustain themselves starting next year after the first harvests. I'm sure you've heard what Supervisor Spiel and Supervisor Camorra said just now. The food stash within the family dominion can only last us 8 more months at this rate.
"It's already the 12th day of the 7th month right now and there's only 4 months before the 11th month comes. And all of us will have to survive the winter for three whole months from the 12th month to the 3rd month next year. What comes after that? We'll run out of food by the 4th or 5th month. For two whole years, we've spent so much resources and funds to develop Felicitas Settlement and our future seemed so bright that I thought we could even relax for a bit. But you lot on the other hand gave the family another huge burden!"
Lorist was incredibly troubled as he had much to worry about. The Northlands had a total population of around 800000 people. During the pillaging of the duke's dominion, they moved another 300000 people. This time around, the family knights had swept clean all of the dominions of other noble families within the Northlands apart from those of the Kenmays, Shazin and Felim families and brought in another 280000 people into the dominion. Right now, apart from the original 200000 plus people within the dominion and the 800000 people that the Second Prince brought to the duke's dominion for the past two years, almost the whole of the population of the Northlands had been gathered up.
"I bet you thought that you could gain a lot of food from the dominions of those other noble families, didn't you? You all know how that plan turned out. The Second Prince has already sucked the whole of the Northlands dry. And do you know how much the nobles taxed their citizens during the reign of the Second Prince? 70 percent! 50 percent of that alone would go to the Second Prince. The commoners only had the bare minimum of food to survive. Otherwise, why would they be so willing to follow our soldiers back to the dominion as prisoners of war? The food we brought along with us was akin to something that they hadn't even had the chance to taste for a year or so. They also got to eat until they were full..."
Lorist laughed bitterly and thought back at the supply stations he passed by when he escorted the princess to the Wild Husbandry Province. During mealtime, the supply stations would be really crowded with elated commoners that were traveling to the Norton Family dominion. It was like they were holding a large banquet. When Lorist went to check out what was going on, he found that the magical beast meat porridge was a delicacy that those commoners didn't get to eat usually. Not only that, the porridge was cooked with salt, a rare commodity for commoners, and they also each received a piece of thick black bread.
If the commoners remained under the rule of their original lords, this season would be when they conducted the yearly potato harvest. Even though more than half of the crop was going to be taken away by the nobles, they would still be able to survive on some wild vegetation through the cold season in time for the winter harvests.
But the Norton Family forces arrived and captured their ruling noble, ransacked the castle, and forced all the commoners to leave with them. While some of them were unwilling in the beginning, upon hearing mentions of free housing and farmland, not to mention the relatively low tax rate, everyone was eventually convinced. And when the commoners saw the soldiers cook their porridges with thick slices of dried magical beast meat, they all scrambled for their share and happily accepted the status as a prisoner of war.
If Lorist had enough food, there would be absolutely no reason for worry. Without the 280000 commoners, even if they were to gain an extra 60000 prisoners, the family's food stocks could sustain the population of the dominion for up to 15 months. Even if some natural disaster were to happen, they would still be able to fare well. But with the extra 280000 mouths to feed, the supervisors estimate that their available food stash could only last another 8 months. Even if the year end potato harvests at Felicitas Settlement were to be taken into account, that would at most buy them another three months.
Settling down the 280000 commoners by allocating housing and farmland to them would also take up to two years at the very least. During that time, they will be dependent on the Norton Family for food. Add to the fact that a lot of manpower was required to develop Blackmud Marsh, those commoners would not be able to produce food for the next few years. For the next three years at the very least, the commoners were nothing but a burden to the family.
Taking a deep breath, Lorist looked at his knights with a stiff gaze and said, "What's wrong? Have you all turned mute? Where would we get food to feed all those people?"
Charade said with a hint of sobbing, "Milord, it's our fault. We've committed a mistake... Please punish us however you see fit..."
"Hand me the map of the family dominion as well as the map of the lands originally belonging to Count Spenseid," Lorist instructed Reidy.
"How many prisoners did you manage to capture this time?" Lorist asked.
"There are a total of 63248 people. Every soldier of the allied noble army that isn't dead has been captured by us. The First Legion of the Second Prince sustained around 11000 casualties with 8000 dead and around 3000 injured. We've already given them treatment and they can begin working after they recover within a few months," Charade said. While feeling awfully repentant, he still had a good grasp of the statistics.
It was no exaggeration that the allied noble army of the Northlands numbered around 100000 soldiers. However, after they had been completely defeated, not a single managed to escape capture. Even their base was wiped clean completely.
"How many of those nobles are still alive?" Lorist asked.
"47 of them. There were 20 who resisted and were hanged by us," Charade said in a low voice.
"Sigh..." Lorist thought deeply in silence before saying, "Supervisor Camorra, you will bring Tarkel with you to deal with these nobles and hang those who don't behave well. Send the nobles entitled by the Second Prince out of the border. As for the original nobles of the Northlands, treat them the same we do the Spenseid Family and give them a yearly pension. As their castles have been destroyed by us and their commoners moved to our domain, sending them back would be equal to sending them to their deaths. We can only postpone the assignment of new dominions to them for the future."
"Yes, milord," said Camorra.
Reidy came back with the maps and laid them up on the table.
"Since the three of you were the main cause of the trouble, you will be in charge of fixing it. Knight Potterfang, lead three heavy-armored infantry brigades to escort the prisoners to Blackmud Marsh to begin their work term. Remember two things. First, the defensive walls and entrenchments from Tortoise Hill to Hidebull Mound must be completed before the 11th month. Just use the dirt dug out for the entrenchments as material for the defensive walls and pour water over them during the winter to freeze them up. I don't want to mess around with the magical beasts again during winter this year, so we'll bar what remains of the magical beast wave outside the walls.
"Second, the construction of roads at Blackmud Marsh can be slowed down for now. I will have the carroballista division cooperate with you to eliminate those Ironspine Crocodiles. However, the construction of the roads near the coast have to be sped up so that we can have a pathway to the highland hills soon. I hope that we can begin searching for a suitable place near the coast to build a shipyard, understood?" Lorist said as he tapped the map with his finger.
Potterfang straightened his body as he said, "Yes, milord. I will definitely fulfill your two demands."
"Don't agree to them so quickly before hearing the whole thing. The width of the wall I mentioned just now must be increased until we can at least fit two rows of chariots lined side by side," Lorist said. As two rows of chariots occupied up to 5 meters of width, the workload of the construction of the wall would be almost doubled.
Stunned, Potterfang asked, "Milord, why do we need it to be wide enough for two rows?"
"The distance between Tortoise Hill and Hidebull Mound is more than 10 kilometers. Are you going to have our family soldiers run that distance every single day? We must make it so that it is wide enough for two rows of chariots so that during emergencies we can mobilize the carroballista division to defend ourselves, understood?"
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