"What kind of person do you think he is?"
Claude asked as he watched Count Mullides Jay Kleist, the Hicks Falklin's general, leave on his warhorse.
Colonel Borkal tidied up the documents and agreements on the table and replied nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter what kind of person he is. What's important is that he's ambitious and willing to work with us. That's enough.
As long as we can crush his army, there's no need to worry about him stirring up any trouble.
"Given the current situation, he won't be able to do so without our support and help if he wants to take control of an area.
"He knows very well that we'll have to leave sooner or later. If he wants to make his voice heard in the post-war Shiks, he'll have to expand his forces.
"Regardless of whether he wants to establish his own country in the future, he'll have to rely on us to clear the obstacles in front of him."
Count Mullides Jay Kleist was a cautious person in the Shiksan military.
The main reason he could become the jarl of one of the eight standing corps of Shiks was because his family had always stood with the Shiksan royal family and was a core member of the royal faction.
Count Mullides Jay Kleist graduated from the royal military academy at a young age and had a smooth military career. He rose through the ranks step by step and became a major-general at the age of 45.
In the Shiksan military, Count Mullides Jay Kleist was known as the Lucky Kid. That was because he had served Majid III as the chief guard for eight years and was deeply trusted by the king.
Rumor had it that Count Mullides Jay Kleist had a close relationship with a few of the royal consorts. That was one of the reasons he left his post as chief guard.
In terms of military talent, Earl Mullides Jay Kleist's performance was very mediocre. Whether it was sand table drills or military exercises, his performance was neither outstanding nor inferior. Therefore, many of his colleagues had always objected to Majid III's appointment of him as the commander of the Falklin Legion. However, Majid III thought that his loyalty was commendable, so he stubbornly issued the appointment.
Now, however, it seemed that the belief that Jay Kleist had always been loyal to the Shiksan royal family was a mistake. His corps was the only one among the eight standing corps of Shiks that surrendered on their own.
Although it was the same for the D 'ahly Corps, the officers and soldiers of the D' ahly Corps were originally from the Bleyot Kingdom. It was understandable for them to return to their homeland, but the performance of the Facklin Corps was very disappointing …
Even though Earl Merides Jay Kleist believed that the sixty thousand men of Falklin's army were powerless against Thundercrash's assault, he had no choice but to lay down his weapons in order to preserve the lives of his soldiers.
But their surrender without a fight did put a lot of pressure on Earl Mullides Jay Kleist.
Sometimes, enemies and allies had completely different opinions of one another. The Shiksans believed that Facklin was a bunch of cowards, while Claude and frontline command believed that Count Jay Kleist was a smart man.
The meeting between Claude and Count Mullides was a pleasant one. Both of them knew what to say and what not to say.
After the welcome banquet, the two sides entered the substantive talks, and the atmosphere became serious.
Earl Mullides Jay Kleist was a smart man. He knew what he wanted, what he could get, what the Dominion Territory could provide him, and what they wanted him to do …
After a full day and night of talks, Claude signed a peace treaty with Count Mullides on behalf of the region's military.
According to the treaty, Facklin would be renamed the National Protectorate Army and would take over the five southern prefectures that Thundercrash had looted.
At the same time, Thundercrash would attack the other three central prefectures and hand them over to the National Protectorate Army along with Dartmouth and Skovia in three months' time.
The five southern and central prefectures would then become the National Protectorate Army's base territory. It would also be the first warlord faction the region would establish in Shiks.
Both Claude and Count Jay Kleist were satisfied with the treaty. It was a win-win situation for both parties.
Claude was satisfied that he could throw the raided prefectures into the hands of the national army. He no longer had to waste his own troops, nor did he have to worry about the prefectures fighting back against the invaders. The national army would be in charge of maintaining social order and maintaining law and order.
Earl Mullides Jay Kleist was also very satisfied. Unlike the allied nobles who had no bottom line, the two legions under the Autonomous Dominion Command only looted the local officials, nobles, and wealthy merchant families of various counties. They didn't do anything to the ordinary townspeople, unless they were rebels or armed rebels.
After the National Protectorate Army took over the prefectures, they could collect taxes from the people there for military expenses.
Since the upper class in these places had been wiped out by the Dominion Dominion, Earl Murray Jay Kleist's governance had no limits. It was like he could paint any color on a piece of white paper.
There were several reasons why Count Mullides Jay Kleist had requested the Autonomous Command Division to attack the three central prefectures.
Firstly, most of the soldiers from Fakelin's corps came from those three prefectures. They were poor farmers and commoners.
Secondly, one of the prefectures was one of Shiks' military production areas. Count Jay Kleist wanted to take control of that prefecture to provide weapons to the National Protectorate Army.
The third reason was very clear to everyone, and that was that there were a few nobles in these three prefectures who were even more powerful than Count Murides Jay Kleist.
Earl Mullides Jay Kleist needed someone else to do his dirty work. He needed the autonomous military to clear out the power of the nobles in these territories. Then, he needed the National Guard to appear in front of the people in the three prefectures in the name of maintaining social order.
Claude didn't mind sweeping through the three prefectures on behalf of Count Murides Jay Kleist. After all, the nobles in those prefectures had organized their own forces to launch a counterattack on Saint Cyprian and chase away the invaders from the autonomous region.
In the past, Thundercrash had been stationed in the five southern prefectures while Stormwind was stationed in the royal capital.
Now that the Kingdom Guard Army had taken over, the Thundercrash Corps would be able to launch a counterattack and take down these three central prefectures to reap even more benefits.
Borkal wanted the National Protectorate Army to attack the three central prefectures themselves, but Claude knew that the National Protectorate Army wouldn't be of much use at the moment.
The soldiers of Fakelin's corps were already at a loss about their future after they surrendered. If they were asked to attack their homeland, they would definitely switch sides on the spot.
At the moment, Fakelin's corps could only maintain local order. They needed more motivation to change. Only by serving their own interests would they be able to fight.
Jay Kleist hoped that the region would hand over the three central prefectures to him after they swept through them. That way, he could distribute the nobles' lands to the National Protectorate Army.
He believed that was the only way the National Protectorate Army would be able to fight and obey his orders as a leader. They would be willing to fight for their lands.
Claude approved of Jay Kleist's idea and felt that it was the right thing to do.
Apart from the distribution of land to win the morale of the army, the National Protectorate Army's main responsibility was to restore the agriculture and fishing industries in the five southern prefectures and stabilize social order.
They would also be able to effectively govern the three port cities and conduct trade with the royal capital. At the same time, they would suppress any resistance from the region's military.
After sending Jay Kleist off, Claude breathed a sigh of relief.
When the National Protectorate Army from Fakelin's corps reached the five southern prefectures, Thundercrash would be able to be transferred back to form a mobile fighting force.
Claude had originally wanted to give up on the five southern prefectures, just like Dartmouth, but he realized that he had no choice but to station them there.
The five southern prefectures were located along the coast and had three port cities. If he left them alone, it would cause a lot of trouble for the region's shipping fleet.
Even though Thundercrash had cleared out the officials, nobles, merchants and other upper classes in the five southern prefectures, the townspeople would still be easily incited by those with ulterior motives to attack the occupying forces. They had to be suppressed forcefully.
Additionally, after the three prefectures of Manori Plains were returned to Bleyotte, the three mountain corps of Bleyotte had no choice but to return to their kingdom. They could no longer stay in Shiks to help defend the prefectures.
There were two main reasons for that. First, the allied nobles had caused trouble for the region. They had gotten used to looting and burning in the western prefectures. When they sent their troops to escort their spoils of war back to Nasri, they brought their habit with them and burned down every village they passed through, causing hundreds of casualties.
King Avitelli I was furious. All the high-ranking officers at frontline command were furious when they heard the news.
It was now clear what it meant to have a useless ally.
Fortunately, the Red Dragon Duke and the Griffin Marquis of the allied nobles were clear-headed. They immediately ordered the capture of the thousand culprits and beheaded them in public as an apology to the Bleyotte Kingdom. At long last, the anger of the Bleyotte Kingdom's citizens was quelled.
The ones leading them were a viscount and two barons. Due to getting drunk and letting loose, they ended up causing such a huge disaster.
Now, the royal capital directly ordered for the three nobles to be stripped of their noble titles. Not only were they beheaded, but their families were also sentenced to ten years of labor. All of their family assets were used to compensate the Bleyotte Kingdom for its losses. Only then did this matter come to an end.
However, due to that, Avitelli I felt that the country's defenses weren't strong enough.
Bleyotte only had four standing corps. Now, three mountain corps were sent to assist the region in attacking Shiks. The battle in Skovia had already cost them an entire corps' worth of casualties.
While it was a sign that they weren't strong enough, it also showed that Bleyotte was sincere about allying with the region.
So, Claude arranged for the Bleyottean army to carry out some auxiliary tasks, such as watching over the captives and escorting supplies.
Even though Avitelli I managed to convince D 'Heri to return to his homeland, he still needed them to guard the three prefectures of Manori Plains.
Now that something like that had happened in the kingdom, Avitelli I had no choice but to move all his troops back.
He needed them to guard the main road from Menbamark to Shiks to prevent such an incident from happening again.
Another reason was that Claude had promised to give Bleyotte the four prefectures in the east of Shiks that bordered Bleyotte. That was why Avitelli I had to recruit new troops to suppress them.
After taking down the three central prefectures that were to be handed over to the national guard, Thundercrash had to move to the Bleyottean border to take down the four eastern prefectures. In short, they were busy non-stop.
Claude gave Berklin and Dyavid the orders to attack the three central prefectures and ordered Thundercrash to head to the royal capital, Saint Cyprian, to rest and reorganize.
When he arrived at the Royal Capital, he heard General Eiblont grumbling. The gist of it was that he had taken down Saint Cyprian City and the Royal Capital area, but the Storm Legion was trapped in this area instead, unable to conquer cities and territories like the Thundercrash Legion …
Claude consoled him. After Thundercrash took down the four eastern prefectures and completed the agreement with Avitelli I, Thundercrash would be allowed to return to Saint Cyprian and guard the royal capital.
Replacing the Storm Legion to guard the Royal Capital area, General Eiblont could naturally lead the Storm Legion to sweep through the counties that had not been attacked.
As the two were chatting happily, Borkal came in and handed Claude a secret letter. Claude's expression darkened when he read it.
"What's wrong?
What's the bad news? "Eiblont asked.
Claude handed the letter to him. "Look at it yourself. The nobles actually sold their captives to slave traders."
Many countries on Freia still practiced slavery, especially the seven central states of Sangargan. They were all slave-owning countries.
Geographically, the central and western parts of Freia were mountainous and highlands. That was why the eastern, southern and northern countries viewed it as a barren wasteland.
The seven central states were all highland countries. There were records of them being barbaric and feudal. They practiced slavery, but they were rich in gold and silver, so they had the money to buy slaves.
"Didn't they say that the seven central states like to fight each other for slaves? Why would slave traders come to Shiks?" Eiblont asked curiously.
Borkal replied, "Slave traders from the central regions usually go wherever there's a war. They buy captives as slaves and don't like to do business with them.
They didn't like to do business with them and had abolished slavery, so they wouldn't go to countries where they didn't want to lose their property.
Stellin IX once executed a few slave masters and freed all their slaves. That's why slave traders rarely appear in the eastern parts of the continent.
"Shiks, on the other hand, has always been connected to the slave traders in the central regions. Even though Shiks has abolished slavery, the peasants and serfs were still slaves in a different sense.
"Some nobles would also secretly trade with the slave traders and buy or sell some slaves from them.
That was why it was easy for the nobles to establish a relationship with the slave traders.
Additionally, the slave traders from the central regions had a lot of requirements when it came to buying slaves. Craftsmen were the most expensive. Be it craftsmen or gunsmiths, they would only be willing to pay a high price if they had a particular skill.
The central regions had always been rather backward in terms of civilization and technology, so the craftsmen were treated well there.
Next were the strong warriors and military captives. The slave masters all had their own slave armies and there were often family wars between them.
Next were the beauties, followed by the strong youths who could be sent to work in the fields or mines.
The nobles went a little overboard this time. They practically sold everything they could from the three prefectures they occupied. The ones left are the old, weak, sick, and disabled. "
Eiblont said nonchalantly, "That's none of our business. It's the Shiksans who'll suffer anyway.
We're at war now, so we can only express our regret for this. After all, it's the nobles' doing. We're only allies with them and can't stop them from doing such despicable things. To put it simply, we can't stop them. "
"But they're embarrassing us. After all, we're the ones in charge of this war.
Without us, the nobles wouldn't have been able to touch Shiks at all.
What they're doing now will affect the reputation of our region. Perhaps other countries will think that we're the ones behind the nobles' alliance … "Borkal was furious. Even though he'd always considered himself a merchant, he couldn't stand the thought of a slave trade that treated people like goods. It was a matter of perception.
"I'll write to Duke Reddragon and Marquis Griffon to warn them. They'll have a hard time in the ten western prefectures. They'll be surrounded by enemies everywhere and the Shiksans will fight them to the death.
I really don't get it. Don't tell me the duke and marquis don't understand that?
Why would they allow their subordinates to engage in such a slave trade? "Claude said with a dark expression.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself," Eiblont said with a smile.
General Eiblont laughed. "Actually, this is a good way to deal with those captives. If we can sell those hundreds of thousands of captives to slave traders, our Storm Legion will be able to relax a little.
Unfortunately, we can't do that. As soldiers, our morals don't allow us to have anything to do with the slave traders. It's such a shame. "