"I don't know how to say this, but I believe that Wargod is definitely watching over us.
Claude, do you know why the Duke of the North, Pilag Si Feriot, hasn't made a move?
We've just received news from the north that Duke Pilag Xi Feriot has been recuperating in his family's manor for the past half a year, "said Borkal.
"Recuperating?"
Claude looked at his friend doubtfully. Perhaps that was the real reason why Duke Pillag Xi Feriot sat back and watched Shiks fall.
"That's right."
Borkal nodded. He knew very well how wary Claude was of Pillag Si Feriot. After all, the duke had once been the highest general of the alliance and had seen through Claude's plans at the end of the battle in Polyvicia.
Leaving prematurely caused Claude's efforts to go to waste.
The way Claude saw it, the Shiksan duke with such keen battlefield instincts was his real opponent in the invasion of Shiks.
What Claude didn't expect, however, was that Thundercrash and Tempest would ravage Shiks and conquer the royal capital, Saint Cyprian, the eight southern prefectures and the nine eastern prefectures, inciting the vassal kingdoms to covet Shiks.
Half a year had passed, but the Shiksan duke was like a tortoise hiding in its shell and didn't make a move at all in the north.
The region didn't have any spies stationed in Shiks' northern highlands either, so they could only send some at the last minute. It was only now that they received reliable information.
"I believe most Shiksan nobles aren't aware of the fact that Pillag Xi Feryot was injured. It's said that House Feryot immediately took measures to keep it a secret to prevent Majid III from finding out.
"Majid III once did that to an old noble he had a grudge with. He summoned him to the royal capital when the old noble was sick and ended up losing his life.
"Now that the duke is almost fully recovered after half a year of recuperation, his family relaxed a little. Coupled with the fact that Shiks has been conquered by us, it's hard to say whether they'll still exist in the future. That's when the servants in the manor relaxed a lot and inadvertently revealed the secret that the duke had been recuperating for half a year.
Our spy had taken up a maid at the Feriotts' park, and it was in the midst of their love that the maid told him the secret.
The maid said that the Grand Duke of the North had been stripped of his position in the kingdom's army by the crazy Majid III after he returned to the kingdom. He even lost his rank as a marshal. The Grand Duke of the North had to go home and apologize.
"Just as we were about to attack Shiks, a barbarian kingdom near the north erupted in internal strife. The duke led his family's border guards to quell the rebellion. Unfortunately, he was shot in the right chest by a hidden barbarian sniper before the battle ended.
Because the lead bullets used by these barbarian gunmen had been soaked in poison and feces, the wound of the Grand Duke of the Northern Region who was shot quickly became inflamed, and he almost died.
Later, a mysterious doctor came and used a strange meat worm to swallow all the rotten flesh around the wound. The worm spat out saliva to form a mucous membrane to seal the bleeding wound. Only then did the Grand Duke of the Northern Region was saved. Because the injury was too serious, it took more than half a year to recover … "
It was no wonder the duke didn't make any moves. The two Shiksan standing corps that joined him only chose to fortify themselves in the north. And what was the name of that one again?
That was why the duke of Sunset River was able to gather a hundred thousand people to fight for territory in the ten western prefectures.
If the Grand Duke of the North was fine, perhaps he would have suppressed the Grand Duke of Sunset River long ago and would not have let him leave the eleven northern prefectures …
Of course, that might've been the duke's doing on purpose. He let the duke of Sunset River go to the western prefectures to test the limits of the region's strategy. He wanted to know if they would stop there or if they wanted to take over all of Shiks.
After half a year of recuperation, he was more or less recovered. He should be thinking about the current situation. After all, it concerned the future of his family.
But no matter what, the duke had already lost the initiative. He was in a situation where he could only protect himself but not advance.
Claude didn't want to provoke the Duke of the North and fight him to the death.
The way he saw it, after conquering the remaining six western prefectures and allowing the families of the last batch of Shiksan's homecoming folk to migrate to the region, the Shiksan invasion would come to a perfect end. There was no need to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to fight the duke head-on. It was better to avoid him if possible.
"Let's do this. I'll write two letters. Find two reliable messengers to deliver the letters to the duke of Sunset River and the duke of Northland," Claude said to Borkal.
If possible, he didn't even want to attack the six western prefectures.
After all, the duke of Sunset River had a hundred thousand men under his command. Coupled with the garrisons of the six prefectures, he still had more than three hundred thousand men. Stormwind would have to pay a heavy price to take them down.
Borkal nodded and sipped on the fruit wine in his glass as he waited for Claude to finish writing the two letters.
Claude's letter to Pilag Si Feriot was nothing more than a greeting or something along the lines of how he felt about conquering Shiks. He also mentioned that he had no choice but to do so because he had a stubborn king like Majid III.
Otherwise, Aueras and the region wouldn't have peace for the next few decades. The only way to achieve peace was to get rid of Majid III.
Borkal said that the news of the duke's injury had to be kept a secret from Majid III. Since that was the case, Claude believed that the duke wasn't a die-hard Shiksan loyalist. He also knew that Claude wasn't telling the truth.
Having such a stubborn king was indeed a huge headache for his subordinates. Majid III was reaping what he sowed.
If he had admitted defeat earlier and signed a peace treaty, Claude wouldn't have set his sights on Shiks. Shiks would've been able to avoid this disaster as well.
Claude's letter stated that he wouldn't send troops to the northern prefectures because the Shiksan folk that were migrating to the region didn't come from there.
Most of the rebellious lords were from the western, central, eastern and southern regions. After their defeat, Majid III punished them by conscripting the youths from their territories to form Nubissia's expeditionary force to wage war against the region.
If Shiks had allowed the Shiksan captives to return home to visit their families a few years ago, the war might not have happened.
However, Majid III declared the captives to be traitors of the kingdom and would be hanged if caught. In the end, the five hundred thousand Shiksan captives in the region were enraged.
When Majid III saw the Shiksan folk perform well in the war on the west coast, he decided to make use of them to gain a colony on the west coast and sent an envoy to persuade them to turn against him. That forced Claude to carry out his plan to conquer Shiks and get rid of that threat.
Claude explained the reason why he wanted to conquer Shiks in the letter and promised that he wouldn't occupy a single inch of Shiks' territory. He would only leave after the Shiksan folk were reunited with the region. So, he hoped that there wouldn't be any misunderstandings with House Feriot.
The region wouldn't attack the northern prefectures and he also hoped that the Duke of the North wouldn't leave the northern prefectures either. Otherwise, any misunderstandings and conflicts wouldn't be what they wanted.
After sealing the letter and stamping it with wax, the letter was done.
Next was another letter for the Duke of Sunset River. Claude didn't waste any time and only mentioned one condition: the remaining six western prefectures would be the next target for the region. If the Duke of Sunset River didn't resist and surrendered, Claude would hand over Saint Cyprian and the royal capital to him before he left.
Claude believed that the Duke of Sunset River would reconsider such a condition. Saint Cyprian and the royal capital had always been the heart of Shiks and weren't as remote as the ten western prefectures.
Not to mention, the Duke of Sunset River was a member of the Shiksan royal family. He could easily claim Saint Cyprian as the rightful heir and rebuild Shiks.
Of course, whether the other factions were willing to obey him was another matter.
Claude had no choice but to propose such a condition. He had originally planned to hand over the remaining ten central prefectures along with Saint Cyprian and the royal capital to a separatist faction.
The problem, however, was that the local garrison force chosen by the bureau wasn't very presentable.
The National Garrison Force was basically a puppet army that had defected to the region. The purpose of the garrison force was to maintain social order in the towns.
The leader of the National Garrison Force was a territorial baron who was the first to defect to the region's military.
Even though he was a Shiksan noble, his family was one of the poorer ones. They were so poor that they didn't even have a new set of clothes to wear. They even had to work the fields themselves. When the soldiers who went to capture the local nobles went to his house, they couldn't tell that he was a noble at all. He seemed even poorer than most townspeople.
However, the baron called Laux was a smart man. He immediately defected to the region and became a guide.
Starting from the first county in the central region, Westgate County, he led Thundercrash's soldiers to capture all the nobles and officials along the way. Not a single one of them escaped, and even the amount of wealth they had in their families was clearly recorded.
One of the major's leaders was curious and asked him how he knew so much about the rich. The baron couldn't help but tear up at the mention of it.
Starting from his father, he indulged in the dream of striking it rich by venturing out to mine. Then, he mortgaged everything he owned to pay off his debt.
In the end, he was cheated. The mountain he bought turned out to be a barren land without any mineral resources at all. His family ended up burdened with a huge debt.
Before his father passed away in grief and anger, the three brothers of his family modestly gave up the title of Baron. None of them wanted to be the Baron of this territory. The territory had already been mortgaged, and whoever inherited the title would be responsible for the family debt. In the end, he was unlucky enough to draw the lot and became the bald Baron of this territory. In addition to the title, there was also the debt that could not be paid off.
The reason he knew so much about the rich people in the towns along the way was because he had borrowed money from them before.
Speaking of which, he was rather smart. He knew that the debt his family owed was so huge that the interest was the biggest expense for him.
So, he thought of a way to borrow money from the rich to pay off the debt. That way, he would have to pay off the debts of others every year. That way, he would be able to pay off his family's debt.
For example, the original ten thousand would be split into twenty parts of five hundred. That way, he would be able to pay off one debt every year. Firstly, it would reduce the interest, and secondly, he would be able to pay off the debt.
Now that the autonomous region had come, he became a guide and wiped out all the creditors. That way, he would be able to get rid of all the debts.
Furthermore, he would be able to help out when the Thundercrash soldiers raided his family's property. He would be able to toss those things he didn't want to him and he would be able to make a fortune.
Because he did well, he was appointed as the person in charge of the local garrison forces. He gathered some of the guides who had defected to the autonomous region and formed a National Defense Front to run errands for the autonomous region.
Claude really didn't understand why Borkal would choose the National Defense Front members to nurture them into a separatist force. Speaking of which, they were all traitors. While they were loyal to the autonomous region, they were too incompetent.
Claude was very dissatisfied with that. However, the military intelligence felt wronged. How was it possible to find such an ambitious person in such a short period of time? They might as well let those obedient guides take advantage of it.
But the problem was that these obedient and obedient guides were all useless fools that couldn't be helped!
Even if Borkal said they had great potential, they would be able to grow as long as they were given the chance and time to develop.
But where would they find the time to slowly develop?
For example, because Claude refused their request for reinforcements, Crimson Dragon gave up the three prefectures they had conquered and gathered their men to invade another prefecture in the central region that they hadn't swept through yet. They were prepared to make a big profit before leaving.
So, the frontline command had the guides form a National Defense Front to take over the three prefectures abandoned by Crimson Dragon.
In the end, the guides were beaten up by the local squires who defected to Crimson Dragon and had to be chased away.
In the end, Stormwind had to send a light cavalry line to wipe out the local armed forces and make a small fortune along the way. Only then did the guides gain a foothold.
How could the National Defense Front achieve the three-way balance of power that Shiks had after the autonomous region's army retreated?
On one side was the grand duke of the Northlands, who had his own territory and military power.
On the other side was the national defense army. Count Murides Jay Kleist, the former jarl of Shiksan's Falklin, wasn't a simple character either. He had his own men.
Compared to those two sides, the National Defense Front's guides were practically useless.
To put it bluntly, if the guides each took one of the ten prefectures in the central region, Claude believed that they would fight each other for quite a while after the autonomous region's army retreated, let alone defend against the grand duke and the national defense army.
Even handing over Saint Cyprian and the royal capital region to them would be pointless. They might even die faster.
That was why Claude chose someone else and chose the grand duke of Sunset River.
Handing over Saint Cyprian and the royal capital region to the grand duke of Sunset River would make them a thorn in the side of the national defense army, which would definitely want to deal with the grand duke first.
However, the national defense army had its own hidden dangers. Behind the grand duke was the grand duke of the Northlands, which made it difficult for the national defense army to attack. If they couldn't defeat the grand duke in one fell swoop, they could only ally with him to deal with the grand duke.
As for the grand duke of Sunset River who controlled Saint Cyprian and the royal capital region, he wasn't as strong as the national defense army. So, he would definitely target the ten central prefectures controlled by the National Defense Front.
If the guides didn't want to be swallowed by the grand duke of Sunset River, they would have to work together to resist him. That way, the situation in Shiks would be in a delicate balance. None of them could take down their target in one fell swoop, so they could only maintain the balance.
Claude gave the two letters he had written to Borkal and asked him to find two reliable messengers to deliver them to the grand duke of Northland and the grand duke of Sunset River respectively.
He believed that the grand duke of Northland wouldn't act rashly after reading his letters. Sending troops to the north to fight the autonomous region was a wise decision. It was best to avoid pointless battles if possible.
As for how the grand duke of Sunset River would choose, Claude couldn't say for sure. It didn't matter if he didn't agree. He would only end up being trampled by Stormwind.
Of Shiks' 53 prefectures and the royal capital region, the nine eastern prefectures were gone. Bleyotte annexed four and the remaining five were taken over by Santa Cruz and Kastro, two former vassals of Shiks.
Only five of the eight southern coastal prefectures remained. The three prefectures of Manori Plains returned to Bleyotte.
By the time Stormwind swept through the ten western prefectures and gave them to the three neighboring kingdoms, Monadero, Tummarco and Isabella, Shiks would only be left with the eleven northern prefectures, five southern prefectures, fifteen central prefectures and the royal capital region.
With such a large territory divided and occupied by the four separatist factions, they would be no different from a common duchy. They wouldn't be able to cause trouble for Aueras and the autonomous region in the future.
Claude only hoped that the four factions would fight for as long as possible, preferably until the end of time.