Just finding out why the nikancha spies had gone missing wasn't enough for Colonel Kofesler, the head of the intelligence department, to take the initiative to ask for Borkal's credit. More importantly, Borkal had allowed the Wild Bull Trading Company to gain a firm foothold in Port Vebator. In just half a year, he had built a network of connections that could protect them.
Even though Borkal didn't have any connections with the higher-ups in Port Vebator, be it the middle to lower ranks of the military logistics department or the city administration, all of them had quite a good relationship with the fatty.
From a certain point of view, the information Borkal got from the middle and lower class people in Port Vebator was more detailed than the information he got from the Shiksan governor. Basically, everything in Port Vebator wasn't a secret or forbidden place for the fatty.
Even the head of the intelligence department, Colonel Kofesler, praised Borkal in his report for being a natural top-notch spy.
While Borkal's ability to gather information alone wasn't enough to show off, the fatty managed to earn more than three thousand crowns from the Wild Bull Trading Firm in half a year.
He didn't earn much on his first attempt. Port Vebator's food shortage had already been solved, so there wasn't much profit to be made from the smuggled goods.
Borkal only managed to buy a few hundred draft horses at double the price and made a small profit.
But after that, he started to specialize in the smuggling of luxury goods, high-grade food, and alcohol. He used that to build a good relationship with the middle class officials in Port Vebator.
Thanks to the outstanding performance of Thundercrash's folk on the battlefield, Port Vebator's defenders could only defend themselves and didn't dare to attack. As a result, the price of alcohol skyrocketed. Borkal earned quite a bit from that. Not only did the intelligence department not have to subsidize their expenses, it even gave them some extra income. That was the main reason Colonel Kofesler was full of praise for the fatty.
Claude signed and stamped his approval on the report submitted to Borkal for the merit.
It was a pity that Borkal went to Port Vebator in the name of gathering intelligence. Everyone knew that the fatty had run off to do business again, but no one would say a word about it.
Who told this fatty to be such a good person? The Ferd family had 40% of the shares of the Wild Bull Trading Company, the logistics department had 30%, the intelligence department had 20%, and the fatty himself had 10%.
During this period, Port Vebator had been cut off from the colonies outside the city. The prices of goods in the city had skyrocketed and Borkal wouldn't miss such a good opportunity to make money.
Sometimes, Claude couldn't help but praise his good friend from his youth. Not only did he have a keen eye for business, he was also very good at handling interpersonal relationships.
Originally, Claude had asked his sister, Angelina, to take over Wild Bull as one of the businesses of House Ferd.
Then, he would lend it to the Intelligence Department of the Theater of Operations as a cover.
In order to allow Borkal to smoothly go to Port Vebator to gather intelligence, Claude had Borkal smuggle as a shareholder of Wild Bull Trading Company and gave him 20% of the company's shares.
However, when Borkal returned, he had Claude hand over another 40% of the company's shares and 10% of his own profits to the logistics department and intelligence department.
Borkal had made it clear that monopolizing the profits would make him a target for everyone.
Claude was now the highest commanding officer of the theater, so the logistics department and intelligence department had no choice but to cooperate and turn a blind eye to Wild Bull Trading Company's smuggling activities.
Under such circumstances, it was better to use profits to bring the two departments together. Wild Bull Trading Company actually had a lot of potential. With similar profits, Claude wouldn't have to force his subordinates to carry out his orders. Many things could be resolved without him having to say them.
For example, the logistics department could sell the useless supplies to Wild Bull Trading Company and the intelligence department could work with Wild Bull Trading Company to crack down on other smugglers in the colonies that weren't under their control.
Next up was Sir Bennett's civil affairs. The last batch of immigrants had arrived and settled down. Monolith's 4th Folk, led by Beechlin, had been formed and was currently undergoing training.
Thundercrash was responsible for the sale of the draft horses they seized during the third colonial war. More than five thousand of them were put on the market for a huge sum of thirty thousand crowns.
Claude led Thundercrash to wipe out the light cavalry corps of Canas in the third colonial war and seized more than fifty thousand warhorses as well as two thousand draft horses and healthy horses. Following that, they wiped out Nasri's field corps and Toferd's corps of Shiks and obtained more than three thousand draft horses and healthy horses.
Apart from equipping Eiblont's 3rd Folk with 35,000 warhorses, Claude distributed the rest of the warhorses to the troops directly under HQ and the other three folk. The draft horses from those three folk were given to Sir Bennett to be sold to the immigrant families.
More than five thousand draft horses were put on the market, greatly alleviating the shortage of transportation in the colonies.
The thirty thousand crowns had been transferred to Thundercrash's account and would be distributed as spoils of war according to the usual rules of the kingdom's military.
In other words, thirty percent would go to the public, thirty percent to all the officers of the division, twenty percent to all the soldiers, and the last twenty percent to the dead and wounded.
Claude only had a quick look at the money. In the end, it was Colonel Siegfeld who was in charge of distributing it.
After a busy afternoon, Claude finally dealt with some urgent matters and made sure that he would be able to deal with them before the new field marshal took office. That way, the new count wouldn't be able to find fault with him. Claude relaxed and prepared to go home to see his wife and children whom he hadn't seen for eight months.
The women of House Ferd were used to Claude appearing in front of them every once in a while. As a major-general, he had to work hard for the kingdom. Even when he went to the battlefield, his family rarely worried about him.
Just as his mother said, Claude was already a general and had guards to protect him. There was no need for him to risk his life on the frontlines.
She was mainly worried about her younger brother, Bloweyk. He was only a petty officer and would only be cannon fodder in battle.
Kefnie, on the other hand, was busy taking care of her second son. Her eldest son was left to his grandmother.
Fortunately, Weyblon, who rented the manor to Claude, was considerate and helped Claude find two family members of immigrants from the kingdom to help with the household chores and take care of the baby.
As a result, Kefnie's labor wasn't as tough as her eldest son's. She quickly regained her figure and her complexion improved.
When he returned home, he greeted his mother and swore to her that Bloweyk was as healthy as a calf. Only after that did his mother nag at him and leave.
After that, he took a bath and changed his clothes before playing with his second son with Kefnie. Soon, it was time for dinner.
After dinner, Claude was about to accompany Kefnie for a stroll around Lake Lan when Gmy came to report that Weyblon had arrived.
Weyblon was there to deliver the latest news. Bolonik received news from the mining and merchant association about the war zone.
Weyblon, on the other hand, brought him all sorts of information and gossip about Shiks gathered by the mining association in the royal capital. That was of great help to him and allowed him to see the bigger picture of the situation.
First, Claude found the information on Shiks. Even though most of the information the mining and merchant association gathered was from newspapers and gossip, Claude breathed a sigh of relief when he read it. Shiks was facing internal problems and wouldn't be able to care about Nubissia for the time being.
The simplest proof of that was a Shiksan newspaper from the neighbouring kingdom of Bleyotte, Morningstar. The newspaper had a gloating tone.
According to the report, due to the Shiksan conscription, the garrison of a prefectural prefecture called Lesmenda refused to go to Nubissia. Instead, they looted the prefectural city's armory and started a rebellion on the mountain next to it.
The Shiksan military dispatched two or three local forces to guard the place were defeated and many more joined the rebellion.
The Shiksan military had no choice but to deploy a standing corps to deal with the rebels, but the rebels went deep into the mountains and played hide and seek with the corps. The battle has been at a stalemate for more than a month now.
However, there wasn't much news about the reason for the local garrison's rebellion. Claude searched for a long time but couldn't find any relevant information in the Morningstar newspapers Weyboda brought him.
He had to ask Weyboda if there were any other reports about the Shiksan garrison's rebellion.
Weyboda gave it some thought before replying that there were. It should be a newspaper from Mambamark that gave a clear analysis of the cause of the rebellion.
Claude found the newspaper called the White Horse Express and found an analysis of the rebellion on the second page.
According to the analysis, Shiks was a traditional feudal kingdom. The young and powerful king, Majid III, wished to change the feudal system to reduce the power of the nobles and increase the power of the royal court. So, he made a few policy changes.
First, he wanted to grant the new nobles to the colonies on Nubissia. Second, he wanted to reduce the traditional territories of the noble families and exchange them with the colonies on Nubissia.
Majid III didn't think that his changes would cause much opposition from the nobles. After all, Shiks had a limited territory and the number of nobles was increasing every year. They had to grant a few new nobles every year, which meant that the land the royal family could control was getting smaller and smaller. In the long run, the kingdom might even turn into a duchy.
Unfortunately, the Shiksan nobles weren't willing to open up new territory on Nubissia. All nobles had the right to send people to the colonies to mine for riches. There was no need to tie the fates of their families and descendants to a piece of barren land.
So, Majid III's plans were unsurprisingly met with resistance from all the nobles of the kingdom.
So, Majid III instigated a colonial war against Aueras. The seven standing corps of Shiks that were wiped out by Misierc in the first two colonial wars actually belonged to the traditional nobles of Aueras.
Majid III felt the urge to have a huge medal awarded to Michaelic for reducing the influence of the nobles in the Shiksan army.
However, the traditional nobles of Shiks weren't fools. They quickly discovered Majid III's intentions. After all, apart from losing some money and face, the two colonial wars didn't affect the kingdom at all.
The seven annihilated standing legions were all under the influence of the traditional territorial nobles, and their officers were all from the traditional territorial nobles.
But now, they were captives of Aueras. Due to the rupture in diplomatic relations between the two kingdoms, their families weren't able to redeem them.
Just like how Shiks announced to the public that they would form ten more standing corps to continue the colonial wars, the conscription was done in the territories of the traditional nobles. They were also happy to let the nobles serve as officers in the corps and the treasury would provide the funds to arm them. However, the formed corps would have to go to Nubissia to participate in the colonial wars.
The clear-headed nobles realised that it was a way to reduce their influence in the army. It would be fine if they won the war, but if they lost, they wouldn't be able to serve in the army even if they managed to escape.
In terms of combat prowess, a single standing corps couldn't stand up to an Aueran folk, especially when the enemy's officers were all full of tricks.
The worst part was having their troops wiped out. They didn't even know how the enemy did it.
So, the Shiksan nobles started resisting the order to form ten standing corps in their territories. As a result, the Shiksan military's plan was only halfway completed.
The first two corps were sent to Nubissia after completing their training. The next three corps only completed their recruitment with great difficulty and started their training.
The remaining five corps were only on paper and didn't even have the authority to act as officers.
When news of the defeat of the third colony war reached Shiks, the traditional nobles couldn't take it lying down. This time, it was Aueran's war theatre that launched the first attack and easily wiped out three of the colony's main corps. It was obvious that the newly formed corps wasn't a match for the enemy at all.
Therefore, the traditional aristocrats asked Majid III to dispatch a few of the eight elite standing legions belonging to the royal family to stabilize the situation in the colony.
Majid III wasn't willing to do so. Shiks had a total of fifteen elite standing corps. Seven of them belonged to the traditional nobles and had been wiped out by Misherc in the previous two colonial wars.
The eight elite standing corps belonged to the royal family and were the cornerstone of Majid III's efforts to stabilize the kingdom. He wouldn't send them to the colony.
As such, Majid III sent envoys to Nasri and Canas, intending to hire a few more corps from the two kingdoms.
However, the two countries rejected the request. They wouldn't hand over their remaining corps to Shiks.
In the end, Majid III turned his attention to the traditional nobles. He ordered the royal army to issue a compulsory conscription order to deploy the private armies of the traditional nobles, which were the local guards of the various nobles' territories, to form a new army capable of fighting. He was going to transport them to Nubissia.
In the end, the traditional nobles couldn't take it anymore. They could tolerate conscription within their territories, but mobilizing their private armies would cross their bottom line.
With their tacit approval, the local guards of Lesmenda rebelled and took over the territory. They even made use of their geographical advantage to cause a huge ruckus. Behind the scenes, the traditional nobles and the royal family were in a tussle.