Canas was a rather unique country in the eastern part of Freia. Not only was it the only grassland in the eastern part of the continent, but the title of Grand Duke of Canas was also an independent one.
If one were to look into it, the inheritance of Grand Duke Canas was not based on bloodline. Instead, it was a result of a war between several large tribes on the grasslands. The tribe that emerged victorious would automatically become Grand Duke of Canas.
For the past few hundred years, every inheritance of Grand Duke Canas meant the descent of bloodshed on the Great Plains. However, in the past 60 years, the two inheritances of Grand Duke Canas were very peaceful and did not cause any ripples on the Great Plains.
The reason was simple. Sixty years ago, an ambitious person finally appeared on the grasslands. He was the chief of the Komido tribe, Jamiad Dolbagi Komido.
It was said that Jamiad Dolbagi Komido had traveled half of Freia with a caravan when he was young and returned to his tribe to become its chief.
He was the first tribal chief to introduce firearms and cannons to equip light cavalry on a large scale. He then used the power of the firearms and cannons to swallow up smaller tribes, allowing the Komido tribe to grow into a large one. When he was 54, he successfully won the title of Grand Duke of Canas.
After becoming Grand Duke of Canas, Jamiad Dolbagi Komido changed his tribe's nomadic customs. He chose a strategic location to build Beaumaris Castle so that his people could settle down and farm. He also formed caravans to trade with neighboring countries. He tried his best to befriend Nasri and sent his son to Nasri to study when he was 16.
Jamiad Dolbagi Komido had been the Grand Duke of Canas for 14 years. Other than building the Beaumaris Castle and changing the Komido tribe's lifestyle, he spent the rest of his time suppressing the other large tribes in the steppe. These large tribes no longer had the ability to fight against the Komido tribe.
That was why he allowed his son to inherit the title of Grand Duke of Canas before he died. Not a single tribe in the prairie had the strength and courage to fight for the title of Grand Duke of Canas.
His eldest son, Dolbagi Kemido, who had gone to the Nasri Kingdom to study in the royal military academy, succeeded the throne. He was the second ruler of Canas.
Interestingly, he studied in the Royal Military Academy in Nasri, but he behaved more like a businessman.
He spent two decades developing Northbay, turning it into the most commercial port in the east and turning it into a source of gold and silver for Canas. Just the commercial revenue alone was equivalent to the production of two or three large gold mines.
This Grand Duke Pridur Dolbagi Komido was known as Komido II. He also built a city on the coast of the Northern Gulf, which was the capital of the Northern Gulf region, Canpaster City.
He spent most of his time in Canguster, so much so that some people thought of it as the second capital of Canas.
Komido II reigned for 22 years. Before he died of illness, he let his son inherit the throne of Grand Duke of Canas as well.
Even though the new Grand Duke of Canas, Komito III, wasn't as astute as his grandfather and wasn't as wise and decisive as his father, he was still a lord of preservation in the eyes of outsiders. He was more than capable of controlling the Great Plains of Canas.
His only mistake was tying Canas to Nasri, which led to the destruction of the duchy and forced him to flee to Shiks with his entire family.
Komito III had been on the throne for 24 years. His most dazzling moment was during the first great war in the east. He used the last of the duchy's light cavalry to launch a surprise attack on the Aueran's three corps of 200,000 soldiers in the Great Plains of Canas and obtained a complete victory.
Due to that victory, Aueras couldn't hold on any longer and had no choice but to sign a peace treaty with Nasri and Canas, bringing the first great eastern war to an end.
Eiblont was the one who came to greet Claude and Bolonik. Over the past half a year, he had been guarding the Great Plains of Canas and had been flipping through all the documents he got from Canas when he had nothing to do.
He had no choice but to do so. He mainly wanted to find some information about horse bandits who came and went without a trace in these documents, to see if they were nomads from some tribe who pretended to be horse bandits …
"Canas doesn't have prefectures because the plains are too big. Even if they were, they wouldn't be able to remember the borders.
That's why Canas is divided into four small regions and one large region. The most famous one is Northbay, which has a port and three towns that can be considered a business district.
The second is Bomaris, the capital of the duchy in name. That's the biggest food source in the duchy. It has three rivers that can be used to irrigate crops.
"The third region is the Likumada Hills, which is Canas' mining area. There aren't any gold, silver or copper mines there, only three medium to small iron mines and some stone mines. There's also a large open-air blackstone mine, which is the coal mine you mentioned.
"The blackstone produced here is of good quality and doesn't smell like smoke. The people of Canas mix blackstone powder with soil to make blackstone cakes for cooking, heating and heating.
"The last region is Qingshan District, southwest of the plains. It's rather remote.
"That's the Canas noble fiefdom. I took two regiments to sweep through the area and found that the nobles there are as poor as pennies. The spoils of war we got aren't even worth 30,000 crowns. It's a really poor place.
"As for the large region, it's the Great Plains of Canas. As long as there's grass as far as the eye can see, it's considered a grassy region."
General Eiblont continued to point at the prairie while salivating. Marshal Bolonik was quite fond of the boundless prairie. The hooves of the horses trampled the half-foot-tall weeds as if they were walking on a huge green velvet carpet.
He urged his horse to gallop in a circle, then came back and asked, "Where are we going?
Beaumaris or Beibu Gulf? "
General Eiblont replied matter-of-factly, "Of course it's the Beibu Gulf. Sunshine, beaches, delicious food, and beautiful and understanding girls.
"It's the best time to swim in the water and get away from the heat. We can rest on the beach for a few days and wait for the armoured fleet to arrive.
"You have to know that the water here is blue, unlike the dark red of Nubissia.
Even though we knew that seawater was the same in Nubissia and that it was some kind of mineral that turned the water red, the blue seawater felt completely different from the dark red seawater.
"It's like heaven to me. If it weren't for the constant harassment from bandits, I'd spend the rest of my life here."
"Is it really as good as you say?" Claude smiled.
Eiblont swore, "Of course it's true. I only found out why Komito II stayed in the Northern Gulf after he built the city, and never returned to Beaumaris. Even when he died, he did not return to the Beaumaris Grand Duke's castle.
Compared to Cangpaster, Bomaris is more like a military fortress. The stone castle there is dark and gloomy, making it uninhabitable.
That's why I've also arranged for the headquarters to be stationed in Cainpaster City. I've also sent a light cavalry battalion to guard Beaumaris Grand Duke Castle … "
Claude and Bolonik arrived at Northbay's Cangpaster on the 2nd of September under Eiblont's accompaniment. Just as Eiblont had boasted, Cangpaster was a beautiful coastal city. Specialties from all over Freia and the colonies on the west coast of Nubissia could be found here. Goods from both continents could be bought and sold here, making it a prosperous city with a strong business atmosphere.
"It's not a bad place," Claude praised. He really liked the business atmosphere here.
The only thing he felt was that the city's future development wasn't anticipated when it was built. As a result, the buildings and residences in the city, as well as the roads, were rather narrow and small. While they looked exquisite, they weren't spacious enough and gave the impression that the city wasn't big enough.
The barracks were set up outside the city. Claude and Bolonik stayed in the city lord's manor. In the three days before the ironclad fleet arrived, Claude was busy with the promotion and conferment ceremony of the temporary corps. After that, he disbanded the corps and reassigned them to Thundercrash's 1st and 2nd Folk.
Two days later, General Birkin and Myjack arrived at Canpaster with the 3rd Thundercrash Division and the newly formed 4th Thundercrash Division, escorting the families of the soldiers who had just joined the 4th Thundercrash Division. They moved into the completed barracks.
This time, while escorting all the members of the parliament and the honorary nobles of the kingdom, the ironclad fleet also worked together with the ocean transport fleet to deliver a batch of supplies and supplies to Thundercrash and the Cloud Boulder Corps. On the return voyage, the families of the officers and soldiers of the Thundercrash 4th Division would be transported to the overseas region to settle down.
Claude busied himself for two days and left the military affairs on hand to Myjack and his men. After that, he and Eiblont dragged Bolonik and Birkin to the beach for a day of fun.
It was, as General Eiblont had said, more pleasant and pleasant to be in the blue water than in the red, and it was more pleasant to play in it.
Just as they were about to head back for dinner, a plume of green smoke appeared on the horizon. The ironclad fleet had finally arrived at Northbay.
Claude suddenly realized that he wasn't very observant of human nature.
Ever since Fredley the First issued the decree on the 1st of June, Claude had been pessimistic about the region's future.
He believed that human nature was inherently selfish. His Majesty had used the overt scheme of granting hereditary family fiefs, and the councilors of the Overseas Autonomous Dominions would definitely be smashed by the big pie that fell from the sky. They would definitely go bankrupt and use their family's assets to promote themselves so that they could obtain a hereditary family fief.
Claude believed that Fredley the First and the other bigwigs of the royal court would think the same.
Compared to the region, the continent of Freia was the heart of the world.
If these overseas autonomous territory councilors and honorary nobles obtained a hereditary family fief in the eastern region, they would definitely focus their energy on the development of their family fief.
The result was obvious. While the councilors and honorary nobles of the kingdom were busy with their own hereditary territories, the overseas autonomous region would collapse on its own without these core members. It would not be long before the overseas autonomous region would return to being a crown territory of the kingdom.
That was what Claude had been thinking all this while. He didn't believe that the councilors would be selfless enough to consider the region's future.
The reason why he and General Bolonik did not choose a family territory in advance was mainly to let the councilors of the overseas autonomous territory know that he and the soldiers who had contributed to the war were willing to unite with them. He did not object to His Majesty's hereditary family territory, but his objection was to place everything on the hereditary family territory, thus neglecting the development prospects of the overseas autonomous territory.
However, Claude had forgotten the most important point. Every single one of the councilors who were able to establish their own businesses in the wilderness with their bare hands and become a reputable and powerful family in the region were all wily and meticulous people.
They had already come to a decision during their journey to Northbay. While they wanted their hereditary fiefs, the region was their foundation and couldn't be given up on.
More importantly, most of the councilors were either commoners or merchants. To them, compared to the region's industries, reputation and business connections, a hereditary fief wasn't all that important.
That was a misconception that commoners and traditional nobles had. For traditional nobles, obtaining a fief was the most important thing and they were willing to pay any price for it.
But for the councilors, from the perspective of merchants, they didn't care too much about the profits from the land, nor did they care too much about the people's lives.
Compared to power, they cared more about business interests and family prestige.
Skri told Claude and the others that what they were most worried about during the journey was that the two corps' meritorious soldiers would get their fiefs from His Majesty first.
If that happened, there would be conflict and mistrust between the council and the military. If they couldn't work together, they wouldn't be able to bargain with His Majesty.
It was only when they reached the shore that they realized none of them got their fiefs from His Majesty that they felt relieved.
Claude felt more at ease. It was great that everyone was aware of that.
Eiblont, on the other hand, was rather interested in what Skri meant by bargaining with His Majesty. He said that the councilors had done some calculations on the ship and felt that it would take 300,000 crowns to be promoted from honorary baron to hereditary baron. Spending another 100,000 to get a fief wasn't worth it, so they hoped that His Majesty would give them a discount.
Even though every councilor in the region had a net worth of 400,000 crowns, the fact that there were 112 councilors in the region and those who were already honorary nobles meant that His Majesty and the imperial court would be able to scrounge up more than 40 million crowns from them was enough to make them lose their composure.
They felt like they were going to have to hand over all the wealth they had worked so hard for in exchange for a fief that they wouldn't be able to recover for many years. None of them were willing to do so.
Not to mention, they would have to invest in the fief after getting it, which would definitely cost quite a bit.
So, they came to an agreement on the ship that if His Majesty wasn't willing to give them a discount, they would all reject the fief and just keep the title of honorary baron.
Refusing a fief without a promotion was only a small matter to His Majesty and he wouldn't care at all.
But if all the councilors and honorary nobles of the kingdom did the same, it would be a huge deal. No matter what, a 50% discount was still more than 20 million crowns. His Majesty wouldn't be able to sleep well if he didn't agree to it.
The region was on Nubissia anyway. Even if His Majesty and the royal court wanted to take revenge, they wouldn't be able to touch a single hair on the councilors' heads.
As merchants and property owners, the councilors were more concerned about the output of their territories or whether they could set up a workshop instead of thinking about how to squeeze the last copper coin out of their subjects. This was where their thinking differed from that of the traditional nobles.
In order to own a fief in the east, the councilors also had to consider the issue of safety.
Getting a fief didn't mean that they would be safe for the rest of their lives. It wasn't uncommon for the nobles to lose their fief due to territorial wars or poor management.
That was why the councilors hoped that all their fiefs would be in the same region and form an alliance to ensure the safety of all their fiefs.
"Tell me your specific requests." Claude was curious as to what the councilors were thinking about.
Chairman Bennett raised his glass with his remaining hand and downed the fruit wine in one gulp. "We have three requests. First, we hope that Your Majesty can arrange for all of us who have the right to bestow hereditary lands in one area. This way, we can all help each other out.
Secondly, all expenses must be at least halved. Otherwise, we will refuse the bestowment of the territory, and we will not be promoted nor will we choose the land.
Lastly, our fiefdom needs a seaport so that we can communicate with the overseas autonomous region easily … "
Claude shook his head. "It's a pity that Nasri no longer has a port or enough land to accommodate all the people of the autonomous region. They've all been taken over by nobles of other kingdoms."
According to statistics, there were 768 fiefs in the kingdom. Even though they only occupied a third of Nasri's total area, their fiefs were spread across 28 prefectures and all of them were good places.
It was indeed difficult to arrange all the territories in the autonomous region. At the very least, they would have to relocate the ten or so aristocratic families that had already occupied their territories to make room.
Bennett looked at the enchanting view of the bay and said thoughtfully, "Actually, I think this place isn't too bad …"